“She’s lying,” John said to her.
“I don’t care,” she replied. “I just want you.”
“She’s lying,” he said again.
“Let’s go,” she took his hand.
He shook his head.
No!
I won’t run from this.
I can’t.
My game.
MY RULES!
John let go of Sherrie’s hand.
“What did you do to Helen?” he called to her, trying to change the subject.
Zoe tilted her head and smiled, “You don’t want to know that, Johnny.”
“Yes,” he nodded and stepped closer to her. “Yes, I do. I want to know now. You’ll tell me how you did all this. You’ll tell us how you planned and acted out your little sick fucking game that you dragged us into. And you’ll tell us now!”
“My, we are forceful when we’ve got our back up against the wall,” Zoe replied. “I like it!”
“Tell us!”
“Of course, I always preferred it with my front up against the wall…”
“TELL US!”
Zoe sighed.
The rain fell heavier as lightning flashed.
“Too much truth is obviously a health hazard for you, Johnny.”
He stepped closer to Zoe. They were only a few feet apart again. “Tell me,” he said through clenched teeth, the rain running over them.
“You don’t want Sherrie to hear this…” she warned.
“She’ll hear it all, I don’t care! Now start talking or I’ll fucking beat it out of you.”
Zoe smirked, “Even I know you haven’t got it in you, Johnny. You’re too weak, too easily led and manoeuvred. You couldn’t hit me or beat me if you tried. You’re not the kind of person who can stop events or change them. You never have been, have you?”
John looked to the puddles on the ground around him.
His hands unclenched, his head spun.
She was right.
“Please, Zoe,” he said in a soft voice. “Tell me it all. I need to know.”
Thunder rolled.
Zoe leaned up against the closest trunk in the forest.
“Okay,” she said. “You have to know anyway, I guess. Revenge is no fun unless the victim knows. And it’s clear to me now that you don’t know. I can’t believe you’ve lied so much even you believe your own lies. But this is all because of how you treated me and Maureen O’Reilly. I don’t know how much you remember, I don’t know if you even knew it at the time, but you hurt me so badly, and so deeply. You violated me. You and Laura Austin.”
Laura? What does she have to do with this?
“Do you remember a post-game party Donny DuBois threw at the house he was renting just off campus?”
“Which one? There were several.”
“The one I was at. Maureen was with me.”
He nodded, “Yeah, I do. But I didn’t speak to you that whole night.”
Zoe’s eyes fell to the ground and her face broke.
“You really don’t remember, then,” she replied. “That makes it even worse.”
“I met Helen that night,” he replied.
She looked at him.
“I didn’t know that,” she said.
“Just after I left, I met Helen. Her car had broken down,” he continued.
She shook her head, “It’s a small world.”
“Secrets, John?” Sherrie said, by his side again. There was an edge to her voice now. “More lies and secrets?”
He didn’t know what to say.
Rain drove hard into them and the forest.
“And do you remember my mother’s funeral?” she continued.
“Your mother?”
“Yes,” Zoe’s voice was quiet now. He could hardly hear it above the rain. “You attended the funeral, and then walked out halfway through it with Laura Austin. You made a spectacle out of yourself to go out and fuck Laura Austin.”
Laura?
It was Zoe’s mother’s funeral?
Zoe was looking deep into his eyes.
“You can’t remember?” she said. “I don’t know why I’m surprised by that.”
“Lies upon lies,” Richard whispered.
This is crazy!
She’s doing it again!
My game.
MY FUCKIN’ RULES!
“Tell me about Helen,” he yelled loudly in the night.
Zoe jumped at the force of his words.
“I want to know and you’ll tell me. NOW!”
She sighed. “You hurt me so much, Johnny.”
“Tell me…”
“I lived my life, lost weight, changed my name, changed everything about me so that I could never be reminded of who I was. ‘Pattie the Fattie’ no longer existed. She was the first one I killed. My new life was a good life, Johnny, and I’d forgotten about you totally.”
“This has nothing to do –”
Zoe held out a hand to stop him.
“Yes,” she nodded. “It does. Listen and I’ll explain.”
John fell silent as thunder rolled in on the night.
“I changed everything about me. I changed my whole life to prove people like you wrong. And I did it! I was successful. I promised myself never to be hurt like that again. Never to be hurt in the same way Johnny Murdock hurt me. I got my belly button pierced and I put a diamond there to prove I was truly beautiful and to remind me of what you had done to me. And I got on with my life. It took me years, Johnny, but I did it all the same. I swore a man would never hurt me again. I sought out the love of another woman instead; a soul mate, a true and real person I could spend the rest of my life with. Someone who would never hurt me like you did.
“I met Sherrie and we were happy. Sooo happy for so long. She was perfect in every way. Kind and loving and she wanted to be with me. Just me! But guess what? Who knew it would happen like this? You came along, Johnny. YOU! You came back into my life like a whirlwind and snatched away the only person I truly loved.”
“Oh God,” Sherrie muttered from his shoulder.
“You’d hurt me again, Johnny. Just like you did in college. And the saddest thing is that you probably had no idea about how much you hurt me on each occasion. Once I can live with, Johnny, but twice is taking it too far. You had to suffer. You had to pay.”
Lightning flashed and thunder followed.
“Is it getting any clearer now, Johnny?” she asked him. “Do you remember now how much you hurt me? Want me to continue?”
He shook his head.
His mind was spinning.
He couldn’t remember any of it.
She’s lying, she must be!
“Can you understand the pain, Johnny? No? Don’t worry, you will. You’ll know soon enough…”
The rain sounded louder in John’s ears. So did his heartbeat. His breathing increased and he felt hot all over. Boiling up, he stared unblinkingly at Zoe.
“Sherrie and I had a huge fight the night she told me she had fallen in love with someone else – with a man! But not just any man – you! I told her it wasn’t that easy. I told her I’d make her suffer. She couldn’t just end it like that. But she did. So I knew what I had to do.
“It wasn’t difficult to find you or your wife. I knew Sherrie had accepted your offer to be your Personal Assistant,” she spat the words out with disgust. “It was just a matter of waiting and biding my time. I followed you home one night. Saw where you lived. The rest was easy…
“Helen let me in without even a second thought. I said I was an old friend of yours, just blown into town – pretty much the same story I told you – and Helen accepted it without any suspicions. Or maybe she thought I was an old flame of yours and just wanted to check me out. You people are all so gullible! She was sleepy and off guard and it was easy to attack her and knock her out. I tied her up and gagged her well, and put her in her wardrobe in the main bedroom. You were sooo close to her, Johnny, all night, and you didn’t even know it.”
&
nbsp; “You fucking sick demented bitch,” he said.
“Oh, it gets better,” she replied. “Helen woke up Saturday morning. But I let her know that if she said anything, made even one little noise, that I would slit your throat. I even showed her the knife that I would do it with. Sliced it through her right ear to prove to her it was real sharp. She co-operated from that moment. Of course, I drugged her for most of the time – so she couldn’t do too much. She was unconscious for hours.”
“Zoe, you’re sick. You need help,” Sherrie said.
Zoe shook her head, “Not me, girlfriend. It’s your lover you need to worry about!”
“Go on,” John said in a deep voice.
I have to hear this out. I need to know it all.
“It was early. I had enough time to drive the Jeep to the hospital before you got up. I’d hidden it down the next street before you arrived home on Friday night. Anyway, I took the Jeep to the hospital and used the knife to cut myself and smear the blood on the headrest.”
She pointed to the healing wound on the top of her hip. “Remember this?”
“You said you got that –”
She nodded, “I know, I know. I said I got it when Fox called. Well, big surprise here, Johnny! I lied! I used the blood to smear on the headrest so I could prove to you Helen had been abducted. I caught a taxi and came home then, had a shower and had just enough time to check Helen was still drugged and get your breakfast ready before you woke.”
She giggled, “Sherrie’s time working at the hospital came in handy. For a while, she was studying to become a nurse. Did you know that, Johnny? Not only did I learn about all kinds of drugs, but she showed me how to give injections and also how to treat wounds. Which was pretty lucky, Johnny, for your arm, I mean. How’re your stitches holding up?”
“Get on with it,” John replied.
She sighed, “Might as well. You need to know all this, I guess, so it hurts you more. So you know the kind of pain I’ve been through since the day I met you.”
Lightning flashed around them, making Zoe’s wet body shine.
“We had a great day on Saturday, Johnny,” she continued. “I remember how great I felt with you while we were shopping. It was like we were finally a real couple, together at last. I enjoyed every minute of it. Finally, just you and me. Together.
“Our little side-trip to the K-mart was just to make you realise something had happened to Helen. To build my story in your mind and to make you accept it as fact. Anyway, we had a great day. It was so good that I forgot what time it was. Totally forgot. And the day just slipped away!
“Then when I got home from the hospital before you, Helen was awake and had almost managed to escape. She’d untied half the ropes and was trying to call the police when I got there. I didn’t have much time; I had no idea how long you would be. I ran up the hallway and flung myself at her and we struggled. But I managed to knock her out with one of your lamps. I hit her hard, Johnny. I panicked and I didn’t know whether I’d killed her or not. I really had no idea at that stage. I got her hidden again just in time. Just before you got home.”
Helen, I was so close to you. So close…
I’m so sorry I couldn’t save you…
“It was so risky letting you into the bedroom that morning, Johnny,” she smiled at him. “You went to the wardrobe and got some clothes, remember?”
He nodded slowly as he remembered.
“You were right next to her, Johnny. She was in the next section of the wardrobe, hidden in with her clothes, but you didn’t look. If she’d made any noise, my game was over! I love to live on the edge, Johnny. It’s the thrill that counts – and you took me all the way.”
“You killed her then?” John asked.
Zoe shook her head, “No, no, she was fine. Fractured skull, maybe. But fine. I brought you here to the church and tied you up, telling you I was going to get Fox. What I really did was drive back to your house and get Helen. I still had the blue alien key ring with the spare front door key on it. You never took it off me, Johnny. I brought her up to the shack at Redlingford. I didn’t want you to work out what was happening too soon. We spent Sunday night talking about you and what you were doing behind her back. But she never believed me.”
Zoe stared into the distance and shook her head, “She never believed you would cheat on her. Hard to believe, considering all the problems you two were having.”
Silence fell with the rain.
Sherrie squeezed John’s hand.
“By Monday morning,” Zoe continued. “I’d had enough. She wouldn’t admit it. Even after I had twisted and burned her nipples with the fire poker. Even when I slowly inserted it into her pussy. It’s amazing to watch flesh liquefy, Johnny. But she still wouldn’t believe you had cheated on her. That’s dedication, I guess. Or blind love. Or stupidity. Her head was still bleeding. I got a bit carried away with the spade from the fireplace too. Hit her a few too many times. So, I guess there wasn’t much strength left in her. She just started to fade away, mumbling incoherently and not making much sense. She wouldn’t take orders and she couldn’t stand by herself. Plus, the smell of burning flesh was too much in that little room in the shack.”
Zoe sighed. “It’s a shame. She was a nice lady. I would’ve liked to have tasted her before she went. But there wasn’t enough time. I tried to make it as painless as possible, Johnny. Believe me, I did. There was so much blood by then and I knew her wounds were hurting. So I made it easy for her. One strike with the poker and then I strangled what life was left from her to make sure she was really dead. She didn’t even fight it.”
John’s legs went from under him. He splashed into the wet undergrowth, kneeling in the puddles, his mind and world spinning out of control.
Thunder echoing all around him.
Helen…my God, Helen!
“I don’t know if I really ever planned to kill her,” Zoe continued, almost to herself now. “I was going to let her go and watch as she left you and destroyed your life. But she didn’t believe me, so she wasn’t going to do what I wanted her to do. And then she was dead. Totally dead. And I’d been to the edge again. Right to the edge this time. The furthest I’ve ever been.”
Silence fell with the rain.
John stared at the wet muddy ground.
After a while, she continued. “Luckily, I had another plan up my sleeve. I needed stuff to make her death point to you. So I got your cum and pubic hair and some skin from your arm wound and I planted it on her body after I moved it closer to the church. There’s enough to lead straight back to you and your girlfriend.”
John could feel Sherrie’s arm on his back, trying to comfort him.
“Why?” he heard her ask. “Why do this to him?”
Zoe’s face fell.
“It all made sense at the time,” she replied. “John would be arrested for murdering Helen and he’d be thrown in jail. You would’ve come back to me then, Sherrie. And we could’ve been together forever.”
Silence settled over them once more.
John let out a deep sob.
“That was the plan anyway,” Zoe continued. “But it all went wrong. And things changed between us all. Johnny, we were so good together. I just don’t know what I want now.”
Zoe turned to plead with Sherrie, “But I never wanted you to find out, Sherrie. That wasn’t in the plan. I didn’t want you coming up and finding us at the church. I never wanted to hurt you. But now you know everything anyway!”
“Yes,” Sherrie replied. “I do.”
“And you’ll never take me back now…”
“Exactly.”
John looked up from the ground to stare at Zoe.
She dropped her eyes to his.
“So we see it out until the end, Johnny,” she said. “There’s nothing more for us. This game goes all the way to the edge.”
John watched as she took a step backwards.
Lightning flashed long enough for her diamond to reflect the light.
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nbsp; And the troubled look on her face.
“All the way,” she repeated as she turned to leave. “To the edge…and beyond.”
Seventy-three
They ran through the night.
“John!” Sherrie called. “Slow down! You’re going too fast!”
He had no choice. He had to get there before Zoe.
He had to play the game to his rules.
The rain fell heavily around them. The ground was slippery and dangerous. But it didn’t matter. John knew what he had to do.
His body’s numbness had gone. He was hot and sweating now. Each of his wounds ached and itched, his sweat aggravating the open sores.
Keep going…
Gotta get there first!
Keep going!
Lightning flashed, illuminating their way.
And as they ran, John thought about what Zoe had said.
Patricia Bourke.
Could she really be “Pattie the Fattie”?
He couldn’t believe it. Although he quickly realised he couldn’t really remember what Patricia looked like. All his mind would conjure up was an image of an ugly teenage girl with rolls of fat around her stomach and big sweaty, clingy hands. When he tried to picture her face, or Maureen O’Reilly’s, he realised he couldn’t.
She’s changed so much…
“And so have you, pal,” said Richard in his head.
John wanted to close his eyes and wish him away, but beating Zoe back to the church was more important.
“You still don’t remember what happened, do you?” Richard continued. “All those years of lies have settled on your brain. You need to dig through it all.”
Go away! I’ve told you before, get out of my head.
“If you dig through all those lies, my friend, you’ll find the real reason behind all this.”
Huh?
“Think back to the party. Try and remember…”
Thunder rolled behind him in the night.
John ran harder as he cast his mind back.
I told you I was going to the party Donny DuBois was holding and that you should come along.
You said, “Jam it,” and kept typing.
“Wrong pal, first mistake. I was trying to finish a biology assignment. I told you I would meet you there later.”
Love Lies Dying Page 56