Cuts Both Ways

by Solomon Carter

  With a deep breath, Eva opened her handbag and pulled out the ridiculous knife she had brought with her – her secret backup plan. She pulled it free and turned it over in her shaking hand. It was something Dan had kept in the bedside drawer, and it hadn’t seen the light of day since before he went to prison. It was her absolute last line of defence, but now she saw only folly in it. If something did go wrong and she used the knife, it would look premeditated. She had broken in, brought a knife with her… She would be guilty as charged. She looked at the white glossy drawers. But a kitchen implement… something that belonged to Blane… if there was no choice… used in the heat of the moment… what court would find against her? Eva imagined Blane’s face in her head. She heard his voice at the restaurant, fresh from his sleazy encounter in room seventeen, slack and spent, yet still able to plan the death of his long-term lover. Another version of the man came to mind. The slick businessman from the website, a deceiver, a manipulator. Then she remembered the emails… the order for the clean-up tools and rubble bags. The bruises she had seen on Lauren’s arms. The conversation at the Perryman diner.

  She imagined Blane’s face twisted and angry. It wasn’t such a leap of the imagination. Eva knew what she had heard, she just hadn’t wanted to believe it, hadn’t wanted it to come to this. But the closer it came, the clearer she saw the man was a monster.

  She heard footsteps on the floor outside the apartment door, the snick of the card through the reader, and the key turning in the lock. Eva looked around, hastily. She pulled out a chrome breakfast barstool, and placed it on the other side counter, the kitchen side, on the bright tiles with the wide kitchen drawers right behind her. She stuffed Dan’s knife into her handbag, deep and untouchable, and closed it.

  The door clicked shut and the hallway stayed quiet.

  “Lauren?” called a voice. Speculative, uncertain. Footsteps, just a few. Then again. “Lauren? You asked me to come home to see you. Actually, you told me to come.” His voice became more assertive at the end. Eva’s eyes narrowed and she stood up from her seat, emboldened by a hint of the man’s attitude.

  “So, you are here,” he said, hearing her movements. Blane’s footsteps sped up until he reached the living room door. Blane saw Eva standing at the edge of the tiled floor. Her arms were folded across her chest, her beautiful face stern and deeply critical, her eyes instantly locked onto his. Blane’s eyes widened before his face screwed up in confusion. He rubbed a hand across his silly little beard.

  “Who are you? And what are you doing in my apartment? Did… did Lauren put you up to this? Oh… wait… hang on a minute…”

  Eva waited, content now to listen to the man speak. His bitter face and his racing words seemed to damn him the more he said. It was in the tone of voice, the look in his eyes. Inside, Eva’s heart was beating harder than ever. A fire was rising in her stomach, something being churned up from deep within. This was the man who wanted to kill a woman just because he was tired of using her. Just because he wanted sex with a younger model. This was the very worst type of scum there was.

  “Wait,” he said. “You must be the woman she’s been talking to. Or perhaps, she’s shacked up with you?” He flashed an angry smile. “Nothing surprises me anymore. Your name, what is it? Emma? No, no. Eve. Evie. That’s you. I know about you. She called you, what? Seven, eight times the other day? She must be very taken with you. Especially since she’s sent you here on her behalf. To do what exactly?”

  Eva’s eyes shone and she said nothing.

  “Come on. Speak. That’s the least you should do. You’re in my home after all. What are you exactly? Hired help or the girlfriend? I knew she’d turned hard and cold, but I never suspected anything like that. But knowing if she’d turned would at least help me understand a little of what’s going through her twisted mind…”

  Eva shook her head.

  “I was ready to give you the benefit of the doubt, Mr Blane, but so far what I’ve heard appalls me. You’re disgusting.”

  “Oh, I’m used to hearing all that and worse. That’s my daily bread in this house. But if that’s all you’ve come to say, you might as well turn around and go now. And you can tell her that she can’t get away with it.”

  Eva tried to read the man’s eyes, tried to glean his meaning. But she only saw the bitterness, the violence in his eyes.

  “That sounded like a threat, Mr Blane. So here’s the first thing you should know. I won’t be delivering any threats from you. All your threats are finished. She’s beyond all of that now.”

  The man snorted. “Finished? The threats? The threats haven’t finished at all. Woman, you haven’t got the faintest idea. Or maybe you have. Maybe that’s the reason you came here. For more threats and ultimatums. Maybe you’re not just her little experiment, after all. Maybe you’re the messenger. Is that it? Because I didn’t come here to have my time wasted. I came back to see Lauren. You’d better tell me what this is about right now. Or should I call the police?”

  “That’s an interesting proposition, Mr Blane.”

  The man sniffed again, but Eva saw he looked uncertain.

  “I think you’d better sit down, Mr Blane,” said Eva. “You and I need to have a little chat. A very frank little chat.”

  “I don’t know who you think you are, but I’m not going to be intimidated—”

  “Not by me, Mr Blane. I’m not trying to intimidate anyone. But if I were you I’d take the time to consider the facts.”

  A furrow appeared in Blane’s brow. His eyes blazed at her and he seemed twitchy. Eva warned herself to be ready. She took in her whereabouts in the kitchen and subtly moved herself to the seat right in front of the kitchen drawer.

  “If I were you, I’d take a seat and listen,” said Eva.

  Blane grimaced. Eva saw he was sweating now. Stress from fear, or from planning to act?

  Blane pulled a stool from the lounge side of the breakfast bar and placed it at the near corner of the counter, uncomfortably near to Eva… Close enough to intervene if she did anything he didn’t like. Eva saw his eyes flit to the wide cutlery drawer near her elbow. She watched his eyes the whole time, letting him know she was watching him keenly.

  “What’s with all the hard eye? What are you? The attack dog?” said Blane.

  “No,” said Eva. “Actually, you were closest when you said I was the messenger.”

  “Who are you?”

  “Someone representing Lauren’s interests. And you should know, I am aware of her situation in great detail. I’ve seen the evidence. I’m aware that your relationship has become deeply toxic and has been that way for a long time.”

  “You can say that again.” The man’s smile flickered somewhere between a grimace and a snarl.

  “I’m also aware that you’ve been putting Lauren under immense psychological strain, that you’ve been abusing her physically and mentally for months…”

  “What?!”

  “I know that you have beaten her physically, leaving bruising, causing her pain… and in my line of work I’m also well aware of where such behaviour leads if it goes unchecked. Women who get beaten by their partners sometimes end up dead.”

  Eva let her words sink in. The man’s eyes flared. His bottom lip trembled, as if seeking a reply his brain couldn’t find.

  Eva carried on. “But in this case I already know it’s much worse than that, because you, Mr Blane, hate Lauren enough to want her dead. Or perhaps you just want her dead as a matter of convenience, Mr Blane? Because I know you want her gone urgently, don’t you, Mr Blane?”

  “Now look here – what the hell are you talking about?!”

  “The emails, Mr Blane. The emails between you and someone who calls himself IronVelvet, presumably meaning iron in glove. The emails detailing purchases of cleaning equipment and rubble bags you picked up in the last few days, preparing for some largescale cleaning and disposal necessity. The meeting you had last night at the Perryman hotel – the meeting that happened immediately a
fter your sordid little liaison with the latest squeeze taken from your company payroll. Is that what the firm is to you, Mr Blane? A conveyor belt of bedmates? I’ve seen you in action and I know your ilk. You take what you like, use them up, break them and throw them away, each in turn. Tell me, Mr Blane. Does Suzie-Pie know what you’re really like?”

  Eva had intended to stick to the facts, deliver the ultimatum, and leave. That was it. But the more she saw of the man, the further she went. Every part of Lauren’s humiliation and suffering came back to her, flaunted in the man’s callous face. She couldn’t help it – she hated him. But Eva had overstepped the mark, and she knew it.

  The man’s face flushed puce. He opened his mouth as if to shout, but he seemed so overcome by emotion he could hardly speak.

  “You’ve been watching me?!” His voice quavered. “How dare you?! How dare you presume to judge me in my home. You don’t know anything about me!”

  “I know what I saw, I know what I heard, and I know what I’ve read. You’re a deeply disturbed man, Mr Blane. Whatever problems you have, you’re no longer going to take them out on Lauren Jaeger, and if you’ve got any common sense at all, you’d stop whatever plan you’ve set in motion and pull back before you ruin your own life as well as hers. Because I assure you, if anything at all happens to Lauren, or any of her family, then I’ve got enough evidence to ensure you go away for a very long time.”

  “What evidence?”

  “Enough to make a court question exactly what really happened during your late wife’s car accident…”

  Blane’s face screwed up tight and he bared his teeth. He shook his head.

  “You think you can come here… and speak like this in my own home… you think you can do this on her behalf, and say despicable things like that? About me? About my poor dead wife? And you call me disturbed? What kind of sick, twisted bitch are you?”

  “Careful, Mr Blane.”

  “Careful?” You throw around wild, malicious accusations, you follow me, spy on me, for her, threaten me and give me ultimatums and expect me to kowtow to you like that? All on the basis of her cruel lies?”

  “The abuser always, always claims the partner is lying, Mr Blane. It’s part of the routine. But it won’t wash with me. I’ve seen the evidence. Neither does your righteous anger routine. And calling me names like that only goes to prove the point.”

  Eva stood up from her stool, her heart thudding hard beneath the man’s burning gaze. She tried to look confident, tried to keep her cool.

  “So, are we clear, Mr Blane? Whatever button you’ve pushed, you need to un-push it. As of right now, you are going to leave Lauren Jaeger well alone, as in completely, one hundred per cent. You are to leave her family alone, as well. You are to stop making threats to her family and about her family, and I warn you not to pursue any kind of violent agenda against Lauren through any third party. I’m going to keep all the evidence I’ve seen in case anything should happen to Lauren, and if it does, you can be sure everything I have will make it into police hands. Are we absolutely clear?”

  Blane rocked back on his stool, stood up and folded his arms. Then he unfolded them. Then he paced away, before turning to face Eva, jabbing a finger at her as he roared.

  “Are we clear?!” he shouted.

  “Yes, Mr Blane. Furthermore, you are to release any assets, finances, or items which Lauren brought with her when she first got into this relationship. Lauren needs to get on with her own life. Then, who knows, if you do all of that I think it may go a long way to resolving this without the need to involve the authorities. After all, Mr Blane, You wouldn’t want your excellent reputation blighted by claims that you are a wife beater… or worse. That might not go down well with your company’s clients. It might even put Suzie off too, wouldn’t you think?”

  Blane’s mouth dropped open. “That’s blackmail…”

  There it was. Lauren’s old charge, that she was capable of anything. That when the chips came down she would do whatever it took, even if it was far less than honourable. Here it was. And Eva realised it was true. She swallowed on her guilt. Her stomach started to twist… Blane was beside himself.

  “Blackmail…? After all she’s done to me already, now she’s using someone else to do her dirty work!”

  Blane took a step forward, jabbing a pointing finger at Eva. Eva stood her ground, and took a quick glance towards the smooth white drawer.

  “You’re going to destroy me – for her! Destroy my fresh start on the basis of what? On the basis of what she said?! How much is she paying you? I’ll double it.”

  “That’s not how this works, Mr Blane. This isn’t blackmail. This is simply the way things must be done.”

  “You accuse me of being an abuser… of beating her up… of threatening her bloody life… do you think that’s fair? You don’t even know me!”

  “But I know what I’ve seen,” said Eva. Blane was getting closer now, slowly, but surely. He reached the corner of the worktop, laid his hand on it. He was a couple of feet away. Eva took a step back.

  “What you’ve seen? Then you accused me of having my dear wife killed?” The man’s sinews stood proud of his neck as his fists balled by his sides. “My own wife! Do you know what I went through when she died?”

  “You need to calm down, Mr Blane. I’m here to present the facts, that’s all. You need to let Lauren go – and you need to leave her alone, permanently. Her family too.”

  “Calm down?! You accuse me of killing my own wife, of planning to kill Lauren. I hate that woman, yes, but I would never kill her. But you, coming here, how dare you? You break in and insult me, condemn me, blackmail me… and insult my wife’s memory. Get out!”

  “You need to tell me you agree to the terms, Mr Blane. You need to leave Lauren alone.”

  Blane was incandescent, speechless. He lurched forward, reaching for Eva. He seized her with one hand, trying to snatch at the flesh above her collar bone, to find purchase, but Eva shook free, edged back, and her fingers scraped at the smooth surface of the drawer.

  “Get out! I should have you—”

  He reached for Eva again but she knocked his hands away.

  “Have me what?” she said. Eva reached back and managed to claw the drawer open. Her fingers fumbled inside for a knife handle, and in those seconds, Blane lunged forwards and leaned over Eva, forcing her back over the edge of the grey marble counter.

  “I’m not going to let you ruin my life for that bitch. No way…”

  Eva’s hand found the edge of a knife. She slid her hand over the shaped handle and pulled the blade free. She planted her free hand firmly onto Blane’s chest and pushed him back. He tried to lean over her again, but then Eva raised a serrated cutting knife in front of his eyes. She left her hand on his chest as she dragged in a breath and looked at his chest. She looked at the area beside her hand. Blane’s eyes narrowed as he watched her targeting his body.

  “Back off, Mr Blane. You need to back off right now. If I think you’re going to attack me, I’m warning you, you’ll be the one who’ll come off worst.”

  Blane’s eyes flicked wide. The spell of his rage faltered, he shook his head, stepped back, and raised his hands.

  “I don’t believe this. This is how low she’s stooped. How mad she’s become…”

  “You’re a violent man, Mr Blane. Now I’ve seen it for myself.” Eva breathed deeply, her eyes trailed from his eyes, to the man’s chest, to the blade in her hand. Slowly Eva dropped her hand away. She frowned at Blane, at herself too.

  “You said I killed my wife. What did you expect?!”

  “I said your behaviour would raise questions about your wife. That’s a different thing entirely.”

  “But I knew what you meant. You’re either as twisted as she is… or she’s convinced you about me. She’s good at that. She’s very good at twisting things…”

  Eva shook her head. “I’m not buying into that. This was more than words, Mr Blane. I demanded evidence and I saw it
. I know abusers are manipulators too, Blane.

  “I can’t win then, can I?”

  “All you need to do is promise to leave her and her family alone, release her assets and let her go. Then you’re free to get on with your life.”

  “Leave her alone? Give her assets? After your threats and blackmail? And what assets should I release, exactly, eh? Does she want a bloody blank cheque, is that it?! She was broke. Penniless. The girl was broke when I met her. I scraped her up and gave her a second chance in the office because I was feeling charitable. She did well, yes, granted, but only because I helped her. I gave her the easy jobs, the ones to get her started. Lauren had nothing, less than nothing, and I won’t let her rob me on her way out. I should have left her on the scrap heap right at the beginning. If she leaves me like this, she leaves with nothing.”

  Eva stared at the man. “Lauren is entitled to anything she had before you lived together.”

  Blane nodded emphatically. “Yes. Which is precisely nothing. Do you really know Lauren? She was a wastrel. A damn lousy drunk and a loser. A has-been at thirty. My offer of a job was last chance saloon for her. I knew it, she knew it. So she took it. I wish now I’d never given her the bloody job. All the girls in the office knew what a calculating cold little bitch she was. But I’d taken her under my wing as my pet restoration project. My problem was that I got too close to her way too soon after the accident. I didn’t even know her and she was already moving in, but I was grieving. I was stupid. And now look at me… The bitch has got me over a barrel.”

  “I know what I saw, Mr Blane. I was at the Perryman and I’ve seen all your recent internet orders for cleaning supplies.”