by Roger Hayden
She continued past a patch of weeds amidst a littered bedrock outside the empty parking garage, pulling into the first darkened level. She removed her sunglasses and followed the faded directional arrows up the ramp to the second floor, and her heart raced as she reached the third. She drove slowly. There were no other cars around, only oil stains, beer bottles, and soda cans strewn on the ground and graffiti on the walls.
Her headlights guided her past empty spaces as her engine echoed throughout the garage. She slowed upon seeing a vehicle parked in the far corner, alone with its lights off. She had seen it before. It was the burgundy Oldsmobile Cutlass. There was no telling how long they had been watching her and her family.
Her eyes welled with tears at her initial shock. “I should have been more vigilant,” she said, wiping her cheeks. “I-I could have done more.”
Her car coasted toward the Oldsmobile as she stopped at a safe hundred-foot distance and parked, headlights on and engine running. She dug into her pocket for her revolver, gripping the envelope in her other hand as her cell phone rang and rang, echoing in the car and the vacant building. For a moment, she let it ring as she examined the Oldsmobile, but she couldn’t see who was inside. Daylight shined in from around the openings in the garage, but not enough for full visibility. She did, however, feel slightly better, seeing only one vehicle waiting for her.
“Hello?” she said, answering.
“Step out of your vehicle and walk toward the car,” the voice demanded.
“You want this money, right?” she said, holding the envelope up to the windshield. “I want to see my husband first. Let him go.”
“You don’t make the demands. Now do as we say. I’m not going to ask again.”
Emboldened, Victoria lowered the phone and then brought it back to her ear. “How do I know you won’t hurt me? I need some kind of sign that this isn’t a trap.”
“Is that a question?”
“No,” she said.
“Good. Get moving,” the voice said.
“I don’t want to see your face,” she pleaded. “Please. J-just let my husband go. I’ll toss the envelope out and wait for you to count it.”
But she was talking to no one. The caller had again hung up.
She hurled the phone at the windshield in anger and then immediately lurched forward to retrieve it, her only lifeline to Todd. Her body shook as her mind grappled with how to proceed. She felt in no condition to face her husband’s captors. She didn’t have it left in her. All she wanted to do was go home with Todd and yell at him for getting kidnapped and for putting her family in jeopardy. She’d forgive him this one and only time.
Victoria opened the door, wiping her face and trying to regain her composure. She stepped outside with the window down and the engine running and approached the Oldsmobile with caution. She held the envelope of money out in display while concealing the revolver in her coat pocket. She expected another call, but was surprised to see the driver’s door open and a tall man wearing a coat and fedora step out into the shadows.
Victoria stopped and averted her eyes, looking down. “I said that I didn’t want to see you!” Her voice echoed through the garage as the man walked to the front of his car and leaned against the hood, hands in his side coat pockets. He said nothing.
“Here’s your money,” she said, holding it out. “You don’t have to say anything. I don’t want to hear your voice either.” Eyes forward, she leaned down and cautiously set the envelope onto the ground. “There,” she said, taking a step back. “You can count it while my husband and I wait. Just let me have him back first.”
The man shook his head in a manner that gutted her hopes. His face was hidden under the shadow of his hat.
“What else do you want? I did everything you told me! Now it’s time to uphold your end of the bargain.”
The man stood straight and walked around his car to the trunk. He unlocked the back with his key and then opened it, concealing himself in the process. Victoria watched in heightened anticipation as he pulled something or someone from the trunk.
“Todd?” she said.
The man shut the trunk to reveal a disheveled and beaten Todd gagged and blindfolded, with his hands tied behind him.
“Todd!” she shouted.
The man lifted Todd up and guided him along toward Victoria. Everything was going as planned as the nightmarish ordeal seemed to be coming to an end. Suddenly, the man stopped halfway and pushed Todd onto his knees with one forceful thrust. Todd fell with a muffled shout of pain as Victoria stepped forward, reaching into her coat pocket. “Let him go!”
The man’s head rose as he wagged his finger at her, his face still concealed in the darkness. “Don’t push your luck,” he said in a strained, croaky voice that was anything but normal. He barely sounded human. He stood carefully behind Todd and then pulled out a long hunting knife, holding it in his black-gloved hand, pressing it to the back of Todd’s neck.
Victoria pointed to the ground at the money. “There’s the money. Now, let my husband go.”
“I’ve been waiting for this moment for a long time,” the man said as Todd moaned under him.
“I said I didn’t want to hear your voice!” Victoria said, distraught beyond control. “I don’t want to know who you are. I don’t want to know anything about you. I just want for this to be over.”
The man leaned forward, pressing the tip of the knife harder against the back of Todd’s neck, making him cry out in muffled pain.
“Damn you, stop it!” she shouted.
The man suddenly cut through the air with his free hand. “You don’t have a choice in the matter, Tricky Vicky.”
Victoria narrowed her eyes. “That name… Where did you-?”
The man suddenly took his hat off and tossed it on the ground. She tried to look away, but couldn’t. He had a thin, clean-shaven face with neatly-trimmed blond hair brushed to the side. He paused, staring at her and waiting.
“You don’t recognize me, do you?”
Victoria shook her head and looked away, her eyes on the ground.
The man stepped forward into the light, clearly enjoying every moment. “Are you sure? Maybe you should take another look.”
He pulled at his face and tore the skin off, horrifying Victoria as her scream echoed throughout the garage. His hair came next as he dropped the limp skin-like mask and the hair-piece onto the ground. What remained startled her. She could hardly breathe. Unmasked, she saw a disfigured face of scars and charred skin. He was completely bald and without eyebrows. He displayed a crooked smile as his red skin wrinkled upward across scaling burns, as if he had just crawled out from the fires of hell.
“After a while, you start to get really good with makeup, latex, and hair pieces looking the way I do,” he said. “I’ve had a lot of practice during my years of recovery.”
Victoria stood frozen, unsure of what to say or do as the man continued threatening Todd with his knife.
“We’re going to play a little game. Just like the game we used to play in high school. You remember back then, right?”
Victoria shook her head in a rush of dread and confusion. “Do I know you? Is that what this is? The flowers? The packages. Was that all you?”
He smiled again, exposing what looked like blackened, crooked teeth that sent chills down her spine.
“I must admit, I had no idea what kind of dog to get your daughter.” He then patted Todd on the head, causing him to shudder. “I got the idea from your philandering husband. He opened up at the hotel bar last night. I was in disguise, of course. We had a few friendly drinks, and having made his acquaintance, he said that his daughter wanted a dog. He just didn’t specify what kind.”
“What is this about?” Victoria said, unable to control herself.
“It’s about retribution,” he said. “But you still have a choice. The same choice you and your friends gave me.”
“Sir, please,” she said, pure desperation in her tone. “I don’t know
what this is about. I did what you told me. Now, please let us go.”
He swung his arm forward, pointing at her in a fury. “You’re not going to talk down to me, understand? You can try to cover up who you are with this phony air of kindness and interest, but we know what you’re capable of.”
“You’re alone, aren’t you?” she said with her hand touching the grip of her revolver. “There are no kidnappers. This was just a way to lure me here. This is just part of your game.”
The man nodded and then held up his knife, almost as a warning. “The hardest thing I had to deal with at first was the realization that none of you remember. That you’ve all completely forgotten about me and have gone on with your lives like nothing happened.” He then bowed his head and brought the knife inches from Todd’s throat.
Victoria gasped and screamed for him to stop.
The man looked up at her, exposing two rows of crooked teeth in his sinister smile. “Got your attention now?”
She stood frozen, unable to take the shot, angered by her own inaction.
“They called you Tricky Vicky because you always had a way to get out of jams. You were always so proper and innocent. But we know that wasn’t always the case, was it, Vick?”
“Who the hell are you?” she asked.
“Must be driving you crazy,” he said, smiling.
She had heard enough. Her hand gripped the revolver as she yanked it from her pocket, taking it in both hands and pointing it at him. “Drop the knife, you son of a bitch.”
Before she could react, he swooped down and lifted Todd up, using him as a shield and holding him at the shoulder. “What was that? Drop what, now?” He then brought the knife around to the front of Todd’s neck and pressed the blade against his skin.
“You’re not going to get away with this,” she said as her outstretched arms shook.
They were at a far enough distance that she didn’t know who she would hit if she pulled the trigger. After a fleeting moment of empowerment, she felt helpless again.
“I should have expected it from the likes of you,” the man said. “Now. I’m going to give you a choice, just like the one you gave me.”
“I don’t know you,” she said.
“No!” he shouted, raising his scratchy voice for the first time. “You think you don’t know me, because you’ve buried it. You’ve all buried it.” He then leaned forward and smiled. “But you’ll remember. Just like Liz did before I stabbed her in the heart.”
“You monster.”
“And then there was Susan Shields. You know her, right? The woman in the lake.” He paused and looked up innocently. “Well. She had nothing to do with any of this. She just got in my way.”
“What do you mean, got in your way?” A feeling of terror seized her, but she wanted to keep him talking. He couldn’t hold Todd up that way forever.
“I mean that she got wise to me. Saw me around town a few times. Even saw me without my mask.”
Victoria shook her head. “I don’t understand.”
“She worked at a diner I frequented since I’ve been here. One night, I was adjusting my makeup in the mirror and she came in to clean the bathroom.” He then brushed one hand against the other. “And that was that.”
“How long have you been following me?” she asked, voice trembling.
He exposed his crooked smile again. “Sweetheart, I’ve been planning this for twenty-five years.”
Victoria held her gun steady, trying to take aim. “This ends now. Do you hear me?”
“Hey…” he said, innocent-like. “Exposing your husband’s affair was a freebie. I’ve been watching your family for months. Studying you. Learning the new Vicky. The one who left one boring town in South Carolina just to move to another boring town in Maine.” He paused and then with force, he yanked the tape off Todd’s mouth.
Todd gasped for air, mouth wet with saliva. “Don’t… Vicky… Don’t!”
“Todd…” she said, unable to hold her tears back any longer.
Victoria strained to listen as he tried to speak between heavy breaths. “He… he told me… what… he…”
“Todd, what is it?” she asked.
“He’s gonna make us choose. Vicky, get out of here! Get out!”
The man slapped the tape back over Todd’s mouth, silencing him. “Don’t mind your husband, Vicky. He’s been through quite an ordeal.”
Victoria’s arms shook as she gripped the revolver. She could shoot just over Todd’s head and hit the man in the face. If she missed, however …
“Logan…” she said as a sweeping recollection consumed her.
The man paused and glanced at her, seemingly impressed. “So, you do remember me?”
“My God, Logan. We were children then. That was…”
“Twenty-five years ago?” he answered. “Well, the scars are still fresh as yesterday.”
“But I didn’t—”
“You did,” he said. “Even if you don’t hold yourself responsible. You all played a part. Sucks when the past comes back to bite you in the ass, doesn’t it?”
“Logan, please. This is crazy. You don’t want to hurt anyone. All over some high school prank?”
The man glared at her. “Prank? Is that what you think it was?”
Startled by the malice in his voice, Victoria lowered her revolver and then brought it back up, trying to readjust her aim.
“Okay,” the man said. “Let’s get started. Give me a name from someone in high school. Just like the letter said.”
“Give you a name?” she asked. “What does that mean?”
“A name. Someone, other than you, who you think deserves this. Someone you think is to blame.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
The man suddenly jabbed the point of the knife into Todd’s throat as he screamed through the gag in his mouth.
“Betsy!” Victoria shouted. “Betsy Wade.”
The man pulled the knife away but kept one hand on Todd as he swayed on wobbly legs. “Betsy Wade. Very nice. It just so happens I’ve been doing a little research on her, bouncing between here and your hometown.” He paused and placed a gloved hand over his chest. “It’s been exhausting.”
With his guard momentarily down, Victoria fired the revolver, surprising herself in the process. The gun blasted and the man flew to the ground, knife falling with a clang. Victoria stepped forward, exhilarated, and fired again, but missed. Todd flew to his side and rolled out of her line of fire as the man held his shoulder in agony, twisting on the ground.
“You shot me, you bitch!” he shouted.
She fired another shot and missed. His hand went for the knife and she fired two more, hitting him in the left arm. He screamed and got to his knees as she pulled the trigger again, but the chamber was empty. She had fired all her rounds without even realizing it.
Realizing her situation, she lowered the revolver and backed up to her car where she had more ammo in the glove box. The man rose, gripping his knife with one hand and holding his shoulder with the other.
Victoria glared at him as she inched toward her car. “We… we had a deal.”
The man held his hand out, innocent-like. “Hey, I’m still taking the money. You fucked it all up. Now everything changes.”
“But—” Victoria.
“No!” he shouted at the top of his raspy voice. “You’re going to pay now.”
She pulled the trigger, cold firing, much to the amusement of the man, as he approached her with steady, menacing strides.
“I’ll give you ten seconds to choose between your life or your cheating husband’s. Shouldn’t be too hard.”
“Go to hell, Logan,” she said, backing up.
At that moment, the man lunged toward Todd and yanked him up to his knees. Victoria screamed just as the man took a step back and drove the knife into Todd’s throat, digging it deep inside and then releasing it to a geyser gushing onto the cement floor.
Victoria fell back agains
t her car, stunned and unable to react. The man stabbed Todd in the chest again and again as her husband lay, gasping and choking. Todd’s body slumped over and fell to the floor as Logan rushed toward Victoria at sudden, break-neck speed. She managed to raise her arms up just as he drove the blade into her throat.
Her eyes widened in disbelief at the warm, metallic taste that filled her mouth, that made her gag as she tried to say: Please, and the dirty concrete below her turned red with blood. A fleeting thought came to her: What if I had called the police?
“I choose you!” he said, driving the knife in farther. “And I’ll also be taking a little souvenir to remember you by.”
She gagged for air but couldn’t breathe. She thought of Brooke as intense panic sent her grasping at her throat, trying to remove the lodged knife in vain.
“Don’t worry,” he said as she drifted from consciousness. “I’ll keep Todd around. You’ve made quite the sacrifice today.”
He pulled the knife out and walked away, picking the money off the floor and approaching Todd, who lay helpless and bound and still breathing. “I should know never to bring a knife to a gun fight,” he said, voice fading as Vicky lay dying.
Victoria’s head fell back against the pavement as her hands covered her bloody throat, gagging and shocked, and knowing she had only minutes to live; that Logan had delivered a fatal blow. She turned and watched in her last seconds as Logan pulled Todd up and forced him into the trunk of his car. He then returned to Victoria, bloody knife in hand, and pulled her head up by the hair. It was the last thing she saw before everything went black.
Logan sat at his workstation in his darkened basement amid a table of latex masks and hairpieces resting on their stands. His desk lamp illuminated the map of South Carolina unfolded on the table as the news played over a nearby radio. Victoria Owens was found dead in the parking garage near the vacant textile factory.