“You murdered him?” Somehow this was the most surprising thing I’d ever learned about Dad. I mean… I knew he was a murderer, an alcoholic, a drug addict. I knew he was scum of the earth, but I never thought he’d go as far as to kill Leslie, his partner in crime, his best friend.
“I had to,” Dad said. “You remember what I told you that night? All those years ago, when you saw me running down the stairs with a dead body? Leave no witnesses.”
“But… Leslie. He helped you. He was there for you. He wouldn’t have betrayed you.”
“Oh, yes, he would’ve. I found out about it in the pub. I thought something was up, had been thinking it for weeks. Leslie acted up, strange, didn’t want to hang out much. Then he got drunk one night, told someone, the bartender, a good guy, that he made a deal with the cops. They told him if he didn’t take it, they’d frame him for the murders all on his own. They had video images of him and one of our victims in a convenience store. All he had to do for the deal was rat me out. Provide some good evidence against me, so they could charge me too. He couldn’t take the cops to the bodies, of course. Leslie got lost in this woods, had no sense of direction whatsoever, but he could inform them when another one bit the dust.”
“He was going to rat you out?” The news shocked me more than the dead body had.
“Yeah. That’s what you get for trusting someone. They tell on you, sooner or later.” He nodded toward the trees. “You think your friend is any different? He’ll tell on you too. They all do. Not now, sure. But when the cops go looking for your little girlfriend and they come knocking on his door, and they find some dope and shit, anything they can threaten him with, then he’ll babble like a two-year-old.”
I shook my head. “Bobby wouldn’t do that. I mean, he’s here, right? That’s gotta count for something.”
“No, it doesn’t.” Dad’s expression grew stern, his face pulling into a thin line. “I’m telling you, kid. If you want to be safe, you have to kill him. Worked for me, right? If you don’t, you’ll keep on having to watch your back. What if he blackmails you? What if he has a change of heart?”
I looked at the forest. Bobby had been gone for a long time.
“It’s easy,” Dad said. “You’ve already dug one grave. You can ditch two bodies in it. That’s the way I did it with Leslie. Go find your little buddy over there, give him a good smack on the head with the shovel. He’ll be dead, and it’ll be painless.”
“I can’t.” I clenched my hands into fists. “He’s my friend. He didn’t do anything wrong. He came out here to help me.”
“‘Friends,’” Dad snorted. “Who needs friends? Listen to me, Jake. I’ve got your back. You’re like me, through and through. We’re too trusting. I trusted Leslie, you trust Bobby, and it’s going to end the same way for you as it did for me.”
I bit my lip until it bled, the copper taste filling my mouth. He had been gone a long time. Had he run away? Back to the car, maybe? Or had he rushed off to get the cops? What if they showed up here, found me with the dead body, and…
Bobby appeared from behind the trees. Sweat colored his forehead and he clenched his jaw. He looked a little tense, sure, but he’d never betray me. Right? Dad shook his head at me. “You know what you’ve got to do. It’ll be easy. Distract him for a minute and beat his head in. It’s the only way you’ll ever sleep without worries again. Besides, what’s he worth to you? You’ve got other friends, right?”
“Sorry,” Bobby said while he approached me. “Had to do number two, if you get what I’m saying. Guess it’s the nerves.” He gave an apologetic smile.
My heart sank. I couldn’t do it. One kill a day was more than enough. Bobby wouldn’t betray me.
“Look at him.” Dad’s voice was filled with venom. “Sweaty pig. He’s dead scared already. The moment anyone comes threatening him, he’ll spill his guts faster than you can say ‘told you so.’”
Although I didn’t want to, I took a good look at my best friend, like Dad had told me to. He did look nervous. He kept wringing his hands, sweat poured down his face, and he glanced from one side to the other like a trapped animal. But dammit, he could’ve stepped out any moment, and he hadn’t. That gave him some credit, right?
But not enough. I knew it the moment I started scrutinizing him. If I left him alive, I’d leave witnesses. If I left witnesses, he could turn against me and tell everyone my dirty little secret. And the cops would believe him, and then he’d take them to the woods and show them where I’d buried Melanie.
“I see you’ve come to your senses. Good,” Dad said. “You’re a good lad, Jake. A real man. You’ll make it someday. I mean, you’d be a lousy dad, but as a man, you’re quite all right. Go ahead and kill him, and then we’ll bury him, get out of here, and drink ourselves into a stupor. What’ya say?”
The offer sounded tempting. When he’d been alive, Dad wanted nothing to do with me. I’d done everything to get his attention, to get him to like me. And now he did. And if I got his approval just for killing Bobby… well, it seemed like a low price to pay.
I cleared my throat and looked at my friend. “Do you think it’s deep enough?”
Bobby frowned and walked toward me. He stood next to me and looked into the hole. “I guess. Not really an expert on…” He paused mid-way and bowed slightly forward to get a better look. “Say, Jake, is that… There’s someone already in there? What the…”
Then I hit him over the head with the shovel.
***
I dumped both the corpses into the hole, filled it up, grabbed the shovel and headed back to my car. Dad tagged along, looking chipper as ever. I’d never seen him this happy, and his happiness was scarier than his usual grumpy behavior.
“You’re a real man now, Jake,” he repeated. “Just like your dad. I’m proud of you. Never thought I’d say those words, but I am.”
“How many people did you kill?” I asked while I threw the shovel in the trunk.
“Oh, don’t know.” Dad shrugged. “A dozen. Maybe more.”
“Why did you do it?” I closed the trunk and turned to him.
He shrugged. “Because I liked it. I mean, that’s the simple truth of it all. I like killing people. Hurting them. There’s no grand scheme behind it, no reason. I didn’t hate them, didn’t really know them, except Leslie, of course. I liked it.”
“That’s all?” The response was simple, yet stunning. I didn’t doubt he was telling the truth, but it seemed so trivial to kill people just because he liked it.
“Of course that’s all.” Dad leaned his arms on top of the car. “Why did you do it? Why did you kill Bobby?”
“Because you told me to. You said not to leave any witnesses.”
“Ah.” This time a smirk appeared on Dad’s lips. “Yeah, but we both know that’s not all of it, Jake. You’re just not ready to admit it.”
“Admit what?”
“That you liked it. The moment when you killed that whore, you liked it. Liked seeing the life rush out of her. Liked feeling powerful. So the first chance you got, you wanted to do it again. I didn’t have to convince you all that much to kill your supposed best friend. Just a push, and you were up for it.”
I swallowed the tension rising in my throat.
“I’m saying that you like killing, just like I did. Nothing wrong with that. You just have to own up to it.”
“No. No, I didn’t like it. I hated it. I didn’t want to do it, but…”
“You could’ve fooled me. A few pushes in the right direction and you were ready to play. Honestly, I’d thought you’d need more convincing.” Dad shrugged. “Let’s drive home, shall we? I’d like to down a few beers.”
I opened up the car door, trying to grasp what he’d just said. Had I liked it? Enjoyed it? No. I couldn’t have. Couldn’t have enjoyed it when the light disappeared from Melanie's eyes, or that sickening thump when the shovel hit Bobby’s head.
Still, like Dad said, I hadn’t need much convincing to kill the both of
them.
I got into the car, wondering if I should feel guiltier than I did. I felt some, yes. I mean, Bobby’s murder had been betrayal from my side. I couldn’t be sure he’d spill the beans on me eventually. And maybe Melanie’s murder was a tad hasty too. The baby could’ve withered away and died before it was even born. Or I could’ve slipped some drugs into her drink so she lost it. I didn’t have to kill her. Did I? But Dad said…
I glanced at the passenger seat, but Dad wasn’t there. The seat was empty. Blinking, I stared through the window on the other side, but couldn’t see him either.
“Dad?” I called while I stepped out of the car. The wind picked up around me. Darkness cloaked the woods and parking lot, but the stars provided sufficient light to make out most of the trees and the entrance to the woods.
I didn’t spot Dad though. He’d left. Or maybe he had never been there to begin with.
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