Claudia Must Die (13 page)

“Are we all traveling together, then?” asked Claudia.

“No.” Francis sliced into his steak. “The boys will follow in their car.”

“You decided all of this while Parker and I were in the restroom?”

The men didn’t answer, but their expressions suggested it was true.

“I don’t get men.” Claudia plunged her fork into her salad.

Parker stared at Claudia as if she had millipedes crawling all over her head.

When the waitress ambled by, Parker ordered another steak, bloodier than the first.

***

Claudia sat on a hotel bed in some Podunk town in Nebraska. Parker reclined in the desk chair, rocking the front legs up off the ground, her own legs on the bed for balance; it was the only position that eased the pressure of her gunshot wound.

Gunshot wound.
Parker never thought she would be able to claim she had been shot.

“This is not fair!” Claudia pouted, twirling some of her hair on the back of her head.

“What’s not?” Parker didn’t turn to look at her, since she didn’t want to aggravate her wound.

“Being in here, when they’re in there.”

The men were in the adjoining room, planning the attack. They were five hours from Loveland. Parker just wanted it all to be over with. She missed her deck in Boston. It wasn’t much, but the peace and quiet each night called to her.

“Why do you want to be in there? Leave it to the professionals.” Parker adjusted slightly in her chair—and regretted it instantly. Pain shot in every direction.

“You aren’t bothered at all? Yesterday, you wanted to kill everyone. And today, well I don’t know what’s up with you.”

“I wasn’t myself yesterday,” explained Parker.

“Yeah, I know. Francis drugged you.” Claudia clapped her hand over her mouth as soon as she said it.

Parker chuckled. “That does explain why I was in such a fog.” The news relieved her fears. It wasn’t cancer.

Claudia shook her head back and forth, resembling one of those Hula Girls on a dashboard. “That doesn’t bother you at all? If I found out Francis had drugged me, I would want to stand on his eyelids.”

Parker thought about that for a moment. Was it possible to stand on someone’s eyelids? No, they were too short. Stand on their eyes, yes; eyelids, no.

“I don’t have my gun anymore,” said Parker.

Claudia stopped picking dirt from underneath her toenails and stared at Parker in disbelief. “What?”

“I don’t have my gun anymore. I can’t help with the shootout.” She nodded to the room next door. “Why include me in the conversation if I can’t help?”

“Well, I can help?”

“Do you have a gun?” Parker asked in a curious tone.

“No, but I know my husband.”

“I know Francis. He doesn’t need any of us.”

That angered Claudia, but she knew Parker had a point. From the beginning, Francis had been in charge.

“Do you remember losing your gun?” Claudia was desperate to change the subject, and she wanted to keep Parker talking. The student’s moody silence unnerved her. How could Parker sit and stare for hours without speaking? What type of woman was she?

“I think I dropped it.”

Claudia burst into a fit of laughter. “Right out the car window! There you were, in the backseat, trying to shoot the shit out of the boys’ car, and we hit a bump in the road right when Francis yanked on the wheel and you just dropped it. Oh, the look on your face was—”

There was no need to finish the sentence. Claudia scratched her head, hoping she hadn’t just pushed the wrong button on Parker’s mood.

“Like I said, I wasn’t myself yesterday.”

“Do you still want to kill me?” Claudia immediately regretted asking. Her mother always told her she didn’t know when to keep her mouth shut.

“Now, that’s an interesting question.” Parker thought long and hard about it.

“What do you mean by that: interesting question?”

Parker turned her head to look Claudia in the eyes. The movement caused her minor discomfort. “Religion says, ‘Thou shalt not kill.’ Then again, in the Bible it says, ‘An eye for an eye.’ Now, philosophically I think the question is more interesting—”

“What in the fuck is wrong with you two? Francis and his fate theory, and now you with religion and philosophy. This is my life we’re talking about, not a philosophical debate. Jesus Christ!”

Parker, unmoved by Claudia’s outburst, asked, “How long did you follow me around before—that day?”

“Forty-eight days.”
Why did I tell her that?
Claudia instantly berated herself.
I could have lied or not responded.
Parker’s stoicism had pulled her in, given her a false sense of security?

“I see. So you didn’t rush it.” Parker nodded approvingly. “On which day did you decide to have me killed?” Parker swiveled the desk chair again, so she could see Claudia completely. The front legs still dangled above the ground. Parker joined her hands, as if in prayer, and rested her chin on her steepled fingertips.

Claudia fiddled with the notepad on the hotel nightstand. Flicking the pages, she said, “The first day.”

“The first day. That’s interesting. The entire time you were plotting my death, and I had no clue who you were or that I was being followed. Life is funny, when you think about it.”

“Oh, please don’t talk about fate. I can’t handle another discussion on fate. Not today. Not this week. Never again.” Claudia slammed a fist down on the nightstand.

“So, on day one you decided to kill me.”

“Not personally,” Claudia interjected.

“Okay, on day one you decided to set me up to be killed.” Parker looked at her.

Claudia nodded.

“And not once after that did you have second doubts…‌or did you?”

Claudia desperately wanted to say that she did. She wanted to say that she had tried to prevent it, but it was too late. Claudia was an honest person—to a fault. “No. Not once.”

“And now you are asking me if I want to kill you.”

“Let me guess, you find that interesting.” Claudia didn’t hide her sardonic tone.

“Yes, as a matter of fact, I do.”

“Well?”

Parker, lost in thought, responded, “Well, what?”

Claudia looked up to the ceiling, trying to control her hysteria. “Do you want to kill me?”

“I won’t lie.”

Claudia’s body stiffened, frozen in terror.

“When I first saw you, when you jumped into the backseat of the car, I wanted to. I really did. And…”

“And, what?”

“I don’t usually react that way. Normally, I’m logical. Numbers. Do you like math?”

“What the fuck does math have to do with this?”

“Everything. Math controls everything.” Parker looked deadly serious.

Claudia stared at Parker as though she just ripped the head off a kitten.

“Listen, I don’t want to talk about math. I don’t want to talk about religion, philosophy, or fate. I want to know, do you want to kill me?”

“Personally, I don’t think I can do it.”

“You tried killing those boys!” Claudia pointed to the room next door, where the big powwow was taking place.

“I wasn’t myself, then. All I felt was hatred.” Parker looked away. “And sad. I felt sad and alone. I get tired of feeling alone.” Her voice was barely audible.

Claudia, speechless, went to the bathroom.

Parker stared out the window. There wasn’t much to see in Nebraska.

After Claudia settled down on the bed, Parker continued. “I won’t try to shoot you or anything, but I’m not sure I would protect you either. Does that answer your question sufficiently?”

“Yes, and I’m sorry I got so worked up.”

“Sure, no problem.” Parker swallowed hard. “It’s been a difficult few days.”

“Francis told me about your mom and grandparents. I’m sorry.”

Parker smiled. “I didn’t know he knew about them.”

“Yeah, it’s amazing what you can find on Google these days.” Claudia chewed on a fingernail. “Why did your mom do it?”

“What? You mean kill herself?”

Parker’s stoicism puzzled Claudia. “Yeah, why?”

“That, I don’t know.”

“Did you…‌well did you ever suspect she would?” Claudia pushed.

Parker bit her lower lip. Claudia could see the wheels moving in her head. It was amazing. Claudia felt like she could actually see Parker connecting the dots in her mind before she spoke.

“No. I don’t think I did. But I did have this feeling once.”

Claudia motioned for Parker to continue. “Yeah…?”

“My mom and I didn’t live in the best of neighborhoods. She had a hard time holding a job. We weren’t destitute or anything, but we weren’t well off either. My grandparents helped out quite a bit.”

The suspense was killing Claudia, but she knew she couldn’t rush Parker. Parker had her own speed.

“One day, Mom and I were walking home from the bus stop—she never had a driver’s license,” Parker added, not knowing why. “As we approached a neighbor’s house, the guy who lived there was pulling up in his car. When he pulled into his driveway, he clicked his garage door opener. I still remember seeing him reaching up to the sun visor where he kept the opener, and pushing the button.” Parker mimicked the action.

“I thought having a garage door opener was fancy, so I couldn’t take my eyes off it. Heck, we didn’t even have a car.” Parker smiled at the thought. “The door slowly creaked open, and that’s when I saw it.”

“What?” Claudia’s eyes grew big with anticipation.

“His wife. She’d hung herself in the garage.”

“Was she dead?” Claudia held a hotel pillow close to her chest.

“Yup.”

“So, what was the feeling?”

“It was like déjà vu or something. I thought that one day I would come home and see my mom hanging.”

Claudia swallowed hard. “Is that how your mom…‌did it?”

“Nope. She shot herself in the head.”

“Did you find her?”

Parker shook her head. “No…‌no I didn’t find her. My grandfather did. He would never talk about it afterward, and to be honest, I didn’t ask any questions. With my mom…‌well, I learned not to ask about things.”

“It must have been hard, living with your mom.”

“It wasn’t really. Oh, there were times, but mostly I loved her. Then I moved in with my grandparents. My mom was in and out of hospitals, but I saw her every week. She wasn’t some crazy lady to me. She was my mom.”

Claudia’s eyes teared up. She wanted to run over to Parker and give her a hug. She refrained.

“When my grandparents died, I wanted to shoot myself.”

Parker’s declaration floored Claudia. Not once had she offered information. Claudia had to probe to get her to talk. But the statement just fell out of Parker’s mouth.

“Francis said it was a car crash.”

“Yeah. They were coming to see me. I went away for school,” she explained.

Parker didn’t say it outright, but Claudia could tell from her body language that Parker blamed herself for their death.

“I threw myself into my studies. If it wasn’t for that, I would have gone insane. Then I met Ida…” Her voice trailed off.

Inexplicably, Parker asked, “How did you meet your husband?”

Claudia blinked several times.

“At Taco Bell.”

“Really? I hate Taco Bell.”

Claudia laughed. “Me too. I used to work there. Dennis would come in every day and order four bean burritos without onions. One day, I saw his car outside, so I put his order in before he stepped inside. He stood out front on the phone for a couple of minutes, so by the time he walked in, his burritos were ready for him.

“I don’t think he noticed me until that moment, even though I served him almost every day for four months. The next day, he asked me out.”

Parker clicked her tongue. “Taco Bell. People in high school used to call it Toxic Hell.”

“Oh, you don’t even want to know what they put in their food.”

Right then, a knock sounded on the door. Parker dropped the chair down, sending spasms of pain up her body.

Claudia looked to Parker, surprised.

Outside, they heard a man say, “Pizza delivery.”

Claudia clapped her hands. “Pizza! I’m starving.” Before she had a chance to hop off the bed, Francis stormed through the connecting door, brandishing his gun. He was followed by Boyd and Otis, both of whom had their guns ready.

Fritz sat up, also in attack mode.

Francis peered out the peephole. “That’s not a delivery man,” he whispered.

The man held a pizza, but he wasn’t wearing any affiliated clothing for any pizza joint.

The man knocked on the door again. “Pizza delivery,” he said, much louder.

Boyd and Otis eyed each other, recognizing the voice. “Let me take a look,” whispered Boyd.

Francis edged over and checked his gun. His gut told him they were in trouble.

Boyd looked, and then let Otis take a glance. The brothers exchanged an “oh shit” look. Francis raised his eyebrows, urging them for an explanation without speaking.

Boyd leaned over and whispered, “It’s a messenger from Dennis.”

Francis nodded. With his gun, he motioned for Parker and Claudia to hide in the bathroom.

Parker signaled for Fritz to join her. He was no match in a shootout. Before Parker closed the door, Francis grabbed a gun from the back of his khakis and handed it to the student.

Claudia’s eyes grew ten sizes when she saw Parker was armed once again. Great! Now she was being locked up with an eerily calm lunatic and an attack dog loyal to the lunatic.

The bathroom door shut. “Why don’t I hold the gun…‌because of your injury,” said Claudia.

Parker kept her ear to the door and silenced Claudia by waving the gun. Claudia started, backed up, and fell into the bathtub. The armed lunatic turned to see Claudia’s legs sticking out of the tub, kicking. The shower curtain engulfed her, and she was desperately trying to free herself.

“Shhh!” Parker set the gun down on the bathroom counter and helped Claudia disentangle herself. “What’s gotten into you?”

“Me?” Claudia hissed. “You’re the one waving the gun in my face.”

The forcefulness of her words brought a smile to Parker’s face. “I wasn’t going to shoot you. I just wanted you to be quiet, so I could hear.”

“What did you hear?” Claudia whispered as she positioned herself on the edge of the tub.