After Midnight (46 page)
Maybe fifty yards away from it.
Or half a mile.
Or a mile.
It might be dead ahead. Or somewhere to the left or the right.
For that matter, where was the creek? What about the picnic grounds? The parking area?
I’d be glad to find
any
familiar place. But even if I could get my bearings, I still might have trouble locating the campsite. I’d only stumbled onto it by accident, last night. With such a dim notion of where it might be, I probably had no chance at all of finding it again.
There’s always
some
chance, I told myself.
Fat
chance.
Maybe if Steve has an enormous bonfire…
Or if Judy screams…
Or I scream?
Shaking my head, I muttered, “How nuts
am
I?”
Nuts enough, apparently.
I stopped walking, then took a deep breath and shouted, “HELLO! IT’S ME! I CHANGED MY MIND! DON’T GO AWAY WITHOUT ME! I’M COMING! CAN YOU HEAR ME? I WANT TO GO WITH YOU!”
In the quiet of the woods, my voice must’ve carried awfully far.
I listened for an answer.
After a minute or two, I realized that Steve wouldn’t call out, even if he’d heard me.
He might
come
for me, but he wouldn’t call out.
“WAIT FOR ME!” I shouted.
As I walked on, I was still worn out and sweaty and breathing hard, but now I had fear mixed in.
By yelling, I’d probably improved my chances of meeting up with Steve—but I’d lost any chance of taking him by surprise. From now on, the element of surprise would be on
his
side.
“Idiot,” I muttered.
Just keep quiet and maybe he won’t find me.
And I for damn sure won’t find him, either. Or Elroy’s key.
The key isn’t worth dying for.
So why am I doing this?
I realized that I could turn around right now and hurry silently away, find my way back to the house and not have to deal with Steve tonight—or maybe ever again. I could take a bath and go to bed. Tomorrow, clean the house. If I couldn’t get the blood off the carpet, I’d cut myself and make up a story for Serena and Charlie. They would probably believe whatever I decided to tell them. After dark, I’d tow away Elroy’s car with his body in the trunk and his head in the back seat and be done with all this.
I could do that.
But even as it went through my mind, I kept on walking deeper into the woods.
I’m not sure why.
Maybe it was something inside me that didn’t like to quit, that needed to see it through to the end, no matter what.
Something that needed to cut the last wires.
Not only did I keep walking, but I started shouting again. This time, I used his name.
“STEVE! HEY, STEVE! WHERE ARE YOU? CAN YOU HEAR ME? I DON’T KNOW WHERE YOU ARE! COME AND GET ME!”
Even if Steve wanted to keep clear of me, I figured he might be tempted to come looking—to stop me from shouting his name through the woods.
No telling how far my voice might be carrying.
Or who might be listening.
More than likely, we weren’t the only two people within the sound of my voice. There might be a couple of campers, or someone out for a jog or stroll, maybe some lovebirds or a dog walker or a wino, maybe even a criminal or two using the forest as a place to hide from the authorities or hunt for victims.
Or there might be only the two of us.
I didn’t know, and neither did Steve.
“WHERE ARE YOU, STEVE?” I called out. “COME AND FIND ME! DON’T YOU DARE LEAVE ME BEHIND! I’M NOT GONNA LET THEM NAIL ME FOR THIS. IF THE COPS GET ME, I’LL TELL EVERYTHING! I’M NOT GONNA TAKE THE FALL FOR YOU, STEVE! YOU’RE THE ONE WHO MURDERED HIM, NOT ME! I HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH IT. YOU DID IT ALL, AND I’LL TELL THE COPS THAT.”
I knocked off the yelling for a while, and just walked along and listened. I heard nothing except the usual sounds you hear on a hot summer night in a forest, such as birds and bugs and frogs and the breeze creeping through the trees and bushes.
“I SWEAR TO GOD, STEVE, YOU’D BETTER NOT LEAVE ME HERE! I’LL SPILL MY GUTS! I’LL TELL THEM ALL ABOUT HOW YOU CUT OFF ELROY’S HEAD! I’LL TELL THEM ABOUT YOU AND MILO, TOO! THE FBI WILL
LOVE
TO HEAR ABOUT YOU GUYS!”
I had a sudden inspiration.
Just in case a stranger
might
actually be listening to me and paying attention—
“I’LL TELL ABOUT HOW YOU CHOPPED UP TONY ROMANO, TOO! AND HOW YOU SNATCHED AND RAPED JUDY! AND MURDERED HER! I’LL TELL THEM EVERYTHING I KNOW IF YOU DON’T GET ME OUT OF HERE!”
I wondered if I should throw in Murphy for good measure.
No. Why drag poor Murphy into this? He was my own business, my own private loss.
Anyway, I was tired of yelling. I was out of breath and my throat hurt.
And I’d already shouted more than enough to draw Steve’s attention—and wrath.
If he’d heard me, he would probably be on his way.
In a rage.
A few minutes later, as I went rushing down a dip in the trail, something tripped me. It caught me across the front of my right ankle, then my left. It felt like a taut rope or cord.
With both feet snagged, I plunged headlong.
I flung out my hands, hoping to break the fall. They probably helped a little. But the ground bashed them out of the way and I slammed down hard. By the time my body struck the trail, my feet were free from whatever had snagged them. I skidded down the sloping earth.
The moment I came to a stop, someone rushed out of the darkness beside the trail. A bare foot stomped down on my right wrist, pinning the saber to the ground. I figured it must be Steve’s foot. Before I could do anything, he dropped a knee down, punching me between the shoulder blades. Then he clobbered me in the head. I felt an explosion of pain, glimpsed a bright flash, and then I was out.
But not for long.
At least, I don’t think so.
While I was knocked out, Steve dismantled his boobytrap, brought it down to where I was sprawled on the trail, rolled me onto my back, removed my bra, and bound my hands together in front of me with the same length of electrical cord I’d used on him.
I woke up to find him standing in front of me. He held the saber in his right hand, an end of the cord in his left. Tugging the cord, he tried to pull me into a sitting position.
“Okay, okay,” I said.
“Ah, Sleeping Beauty wakes up.”
It sounded like something poor Murphy might’ve said. For a moment, I thought I was back in his bed…but then I remembered he’d fallen into the bathtub…with me on him. Fallen and broken his head open.
This wasn’t Murphy, this was Steve.
I suddenly felt lost and sick.
“Go to hell,” I muttered.
“You don’t sound very perky,” Steve said. “Hope I didn’t break you.”
“Fuck you,” I said.
Steve hauled away at the cord. It tightened around my wrists and stretched my arms. Leaning forward, I struggled to stand up. It wasn’t easy. It wasn’t successful, either. When I got to my knees, he jerked the cord and I flew forward and landed hard.
“You must try to be less clumsy,” he said.
I wanted to make another crack, but I couldn’t because I’d started to cry and didn’t want him to find out.
He gave the cord a couple of tugs. “Up we go,” he said.
I shoved at the ground with my elbows and knees. I thought he’d probably try to pull me down again, but this time he let me stand up.
“Very good,” he said. “Now, let’s see. How’ll we do this? I don’t want to have you behind me, so…You take the lead.” He stepped to the left side of the trail and pointed the way with the saber. “Ladies first,” he said.
As I walked by, he swatted me across the ass with the blade. I flinched and gasped. Then he came in behind me, holding the cord low. It dangled from my wrists and hung against the side of my left leg.
“We’ll just stick to the trail for a while,” he said. “I’ll tell you where to go.”
Pretty soon, he asked, “You weren’t satisfied with getting out alive?”
“I…want to go away with you.”
“So I heard. So
everyone
must’ve heard in ten counties. But I figure you were lying about that. Just like you were lying when you said I killed Tony. I didn’t rape or kill Judy, either. Bad enough you were yelling your head off like a lunatic and accusing me of all kinds of shit, but making
false
accusations…That really takes the cake. How could you do that to me?”
“I’m sorry,” I muttered. “I just figured…I don’t know…I thought if I said enough really awful things about you, you’d
have
to come and get me.”
“It worked,” he said, and laughed.
“I was telling the truth, though, about going away with you. I want to be your partner.”
“I don’t think so.”
“You said you wanted me.”
“Still do, hon. And I aim to
have
you. But maybe not for my partner. I happen to think you’re playing games about that. You’ll be all nice and chummy till you get the upper hand, then you’ll nail me.”
“No, I won’t. We’ll hit the road together. I’ll help you…”
“No, you won’t.”
“I will! I want to!”
“You’re just saying this to save your sweet rear end. That’s about all you’re interested in. You don’t want to be my partner. You hate me.”
“I do not.”
“I’ve got a nasty wound on my head that says otherwise.”
“I only did that because you were hurting me. You
bit
me!”
“Ah, yes. I was enjoying a taste of tit teryaki.”
Real cute.
“We could be great together,” I told him. “You know damn well how tough I am.”
“Tough? Not at all. I’ve rarely put my lips around such nice, tender tits. Love ’em.”
“They go where I go,” I told him. “Take me on as your partner, and we’ll all be together.”
“Or I could take them
without
you.”
Don’t let him get to you!
“I won’t be much good to you dead.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t say that.”
“I mean as a partner.”
“Oh, that. True.”
“You’re going to need a partner.”
“Now that you’ve killed Milo?” he asked.
“Right. Exactly. And you owe me for that, don’t you?”
“Owe you how?”
“No more sloppy seconds.”
“True, true,” he said. “I thank you.”
“And now you need a
new
partner, and I’ll be it. I can drive for you. I can do all sorts of stuff. Like help you get girls. I can even…you know…help
do
stuff to them.”
“
Do
stuff?” he asked.
“Like tie them up, help you kill them or whatever, help you dispose of their bodies. Whatever you want.” I looked over my shoulder at him. “You
know
I can do that sort of stuff.”
“Yeah, you’re a bad cat.”
“Bad enough.”
“Not
nearly
bad enough, honey.”
“I am, too.”
“You’re a pussy.”
“Tough enough to kill Milo and Tony and knock
your
brains half out of your head.”
Again, I couldn’t bring myself to mention Murphy. I didn’t want him to be part of this.
“If you had what it takes,” Steve said, “you would’ve taken care of Judy. You left a living
witness
.”
“She didn’t know enough to get me in trouble.”
“Bullshit. She knew plenty. You didn’t kill her because you’re not as tough as you think you are. You
liked
her, so you let her live.”
“No.”
“You had the hots for her.”
“Did not.”
“You fell for her, so you didn’t have the heart to take her down.”
“You’re nuts.”
“That so?”
“Yeah. So maybe I didn’t kill her, I beat the crap out of her and left her for dead. I figured she’d never get out of the woods alive.”
“Who are you trying to kid?” Steve said.
“Nobody.”
“
She’s
probably the real reason you came out here tonight. You never had any intention of hitting the road with me, you came out here to save that girl’s ass.”
“You’re nuts.”
“Or maybe
whip
it,” he added, and laughed softly.
“Judy had nothing to do with this,” I insisted. “I came because I want to go away with you. That’s the only reason. After you got away…never mind.”
“No, no. Please, don’t stop now. I can’t wait to hear it.”
“Why should I waste my breath? You won’t believe me, anyway.”
“Oh, try me.”
Looking over my shoulder again, I said, “I missed you.”
“How sweet.”
“I figured we’d probably never see each other again, and I suddenly realized how much I…I wanted to be with you. I know it sounds crazy. And you probably don’t believe me, anyway. But there’s something about you. I can’t explain it. All I know is that I suddenly felt this horrible emptiness inside after you were gone. And I knew that the emptiness was because…I was afraid I might not be able to find you, that I might have to go the rest of my life without you.”
“I’m deeply moved,” he said. “You loved me so much that you came after me with a sword.”
“It wasn’t meant for you.”
“But I’ve got it, and I thank you.”
“That isn’t what I…I only brought the saber along for protection. I never intended to use it against
you
.”
“And you never will.”
“That’s fine. I would’ve
handed
it to you, if you’d asked. You didn’t have to ambush me for it.”
“You know something, Alice?”
“Plenty.”
“You
are
marvelous. I’ve mentioned that before. But the more we’re together, the more I discover. Now I find that you’re not only sexy and stacked and gutsy and witty and tough—but you’re a quite a fine liar, too.”
“I don’t lie.”
A laugh burst out of him. “You could be President!”
“I just want to be your partner.”