Love Lies Dying (4 page)

“I know. Men like that shouldn’t be allowed to live.”

“I agree.”

“So that was it. But I had to wait until I could move again and put up a good fight before I tried to leave.”

“And you did that earlier this week?”

Zoe nodded her head, “Yeah, Tuesday night.”

She was silent again.

There was a long pause. John wasn’t sure how best to handle the situation. He didn’t want her breaking down again, he knew this was going to be hard for her, but he needed to know everything if he was to help her.

“So, when did you buy the gun?” he asked, hoping this would make it easier for her.

“What?”

“The gun,” he pointed over to it. “When and how did you get away from him and his people long enough to buy a gun?”

“I didn’t,” she replied in a whisper. “It’s Ricky’s gun.”

“Oh,” John replied. “I just assumed –”

Zoe nodded, “That’s okay. I would have assumed it too. But that’s not the way it happened.”

She uncrossed her legs and scooted further up the sofa to be closer to him. They were face to face now, no more than inches apart, and she placed her hands on his thigh. He could smell her once more; the fresh smell that intrigued him so much. Her eyes were big and dark, he felt himself falling into them.

He wished he could.

He stared at the scar cutting across her left eyebrow and wondered if Ricky Fox had inflicted the pain that caused it. All of a sudden, he felt so sorry for Zoe. She was a slight, slender woman, young and full of vitality. She deserved so much more than an asshole like Ricky Fox.

So much more…

“Tell me what happened and I’ll do anything I can to help.”

She smiled her engaging smile once more. “Thanks Johnny. I knew you would.”

Glancing over at the gun again, she continued.

“Tuesday nights are the nights he goes out to bars with some friends. Usually, he takes his best guards with him to keep them happy and loyal. They go to strip clubs and watch girls undress for money and they drink too much and usually come home so drunk they just fall into bed and remain unconscious for hours. I’m often left with some of the younger, less experienced guards and I thought this would be my best chance. I’d never thought much about trying to leave before. I was always going to sit down and try and reason with Ricky to let me go.”

“Guys like that usually don’t take reason too well.”

“Yeah, I’d come to realise that. So, when I finally decided how best to plan my escape from Ricky, I worked out Tuesday nights were the best. He’d be out with his best men, they’d be drunk, and sometime during the night I could bribe one of the younger guys to let me go.”

“But how much money would you need to give them? Surely they’re paid really well by Fox.”

Zoe stared deep into his eyes. “I wasn’t going to bribe them with
money
.”

“Oh…” John whispered, turning away.

“I’m a pretty girl, Johnny. Aren’t I?”

Ain’t that the truth,
he thought.

John nodded his head. “Yes, you are.”

“People would like to have sex with me, right?”

“Ah,” John was suddenly finding it hard to speak. “Yes, you’re probably right.”

“They’d like to run their hands over me and explore me and find my most secret places.”

“Yeah, okay, I get the picture.” John adjusted his seating position so she wouldn’t see his erection starting to grow. “So you were going to have sex with one of Ricky’s guards?”

“Exactly. And I knew which one too. There was a young guy, he didn’t seem to speak much English, but I’d caught him watching me a few times. And he always seemed nice and willing to help me with anything. So, my plan was to get out of there with his help.”

“I see.”

“But it all went wrong.”

Zoe sat back in the sofa and stared off into the distance. Emotions danced across her face as her thoughts played inside her head. She was reliving the scene and John could tell it was going to be traumatic for her.

“Go on,” he squeezed her hand.

“Something went wrong. Ricky came home early. It was as if he expected something was going to happen. He came home without any of the other guards and snuck into the house and caught me in my room throwing my clothes into a suitcase. He must have sent the others on ahead of him and doubled back to check on me. Maybe he really did have cameras in my room after all! I really don’t know how he got there or how he knew I was going to do something, but one second I’m packing my case and the next he’s screaming at me from the bedroom door.”

She paused to compose herself, her hands automatically fixing the hair in her ponytail, even though no hair was out of place.

“He had the gun and he had a handful of cash. He told me he’d tried everything to keep me happy; money and jewels, a fast and happy life. He didn’t mention the beatings though. It was as if he never remembered hitting me or doing anything else. None of the bad stuff. Like he had selective amnesia or something.”

“Women-beaters can be like that, I hear.”

“Well, it’s certainly true. He threw the money at me and it spilled onto the floor and bed. He said he’d got it that day when he closed a deal and that he was working his arse off to keep me in this kind of luxury.”

“What kind of deal?”

“I didn’t ask and I didn’t want to know. It was a lot of money though. A real lot. So I assumed he’d killed someone for it.”

“You really do think he would
kill
people?” John was astounded.

Zoe nodded. “Yes, of course. He did go that far, and often. Which is why I was scared that if I did something wrong one day he’d go that far with me too.”

“That’s understandable, I guess.”

“Luckily, I was already pumped up because I thought I was going to get away from him and that place. His arrival surprised me, but I was also ready for the unexpected just in case the young guard turned me down or something. So…I can’t believe this…”

“Go on.”

“So, I…I marched up to him and told him what I thought of him.”

Zoe turned to John and smiled. Suddenly she looked radiant.

“Really?” he asked, smiling back.

“Yep, I went right up to his face and screamed at him that he was a no-good slimy little woman-beating fucker with a small mind and even smaller dick.”

John couldn’t help it, he burst out laughing. He tried to stop himself, but he couldn’t. He didn’t want to upset Zoe, but one look at her showed him his laugh was the best thing for her right then.

Zoe started to laugh too.

Within moments, they were both laughing hysterically. John watched Zoe as she threw her head back and laughed. All of a sudden her features became even more breathtaking as her face became so vibrant.

They continued to laugh for some time, until John’s sides started to ache. He hadn’t laughed like that for a long time.

For years…

“Sorry,” John said as they began to calm down. “I didn’t mean to –”

“That’s alright” Zoe replied. “I’ve been living with this tension for three days. I feel great now that I can laugh it off.”

“But there’s more to the story, right?”

“Yeah, and this part isn’t funny.”

“What did he do?”

“He was stunned. He really was. He didn’t know what to say or do. He just stood there with his mouth wide open, like he was in mid-scream or something, but he just stood there. I said I’d packed my bags and there was nothing he could do about it. But then he came at me with the gun raised like he was going to hit me with it, you know? I mean, he didn’t have it pointed at me by then, he was holding it the other way, by the barrel and it was like he was going to hit me with the handle-part.”

“The butt of the gun?”

“Yeah. But I was ready and I was pumped and I wrestled with him.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, it’s hard to believe, I know. He was a big guy and I didn’t know if I was strong enough. But this was the first time I had shown any resistance so I think he was a bit surprised and that’s why I managed to throw him off balance and we ended up on the bed.”

“Good for you!”

“It was a surprise to me too, though. One moment I’m yelling at his face and the next we’re on the bed and I’m on top of him and we’re wrestling for the gun.”

“So what happened then?”

“Ricky’s fighting me with one hand and trying to reach the phone on the bedside table. When you picked up the receiver and didn’t dial, it would go straight through to the gatehouse where security was stationed. That’s what he was trying to do. He was trying to knock the phone off the hook so the guards could hear there was trouble. So I had to try and keep him away from the phone and fight him for the gun too. The next thing I know, we’re both tumbling off the bed, the bedside table is falling on top of us along with the phone, the lamp and vase, and we hit the floor all at once.”

Zoe took a deep breath.

“And that’s when the gun went off.”

John rubbed her arm and nodded his head. “Okay, but it was self defence, right? I mean, he came at you with the gun. They can’t hold that against you.”

“But that’s just the problem,” Zoe replied. “Don’t you see? I panicked. I didn’t stop. I screamed when I noticed he wasn’t moving. I jumped off him, grabbed my suitcase, the gun, and as much of the money as I could and ran. The guards were panicking too because of the gunshot and I managed to slip through them while they were looking for Ricky.”

“But that’s fine. Go and tell the police. I’m sure they’ll understand.”

“Johnny, don’t you get it? I don’t even know if Ricky is dead!”

“Huh? But you said the gun went off?”

“It did. But I don’t know for sure that I killed Ricky. He could just be hurt or maybe the bullet missed him completely and he was knocked out by the fall to the ground. What if the bedside table knocked him out or the lamp or something?”

“Didn’t you check for a wound or anything?”

“No, I didn’t have time. I panicked and fled and just left with the money and the suitcase as quickly as possible.”

“I see,” John nodded his head. “So you can’t go to the police because –”

“Because if Ricky is still alive he’ll get at me somehow.”

John grabbed both of Zoe’s hands and stared deeply into her eyes. “Is he
that
powerful?
That
dangerous?” he asked.

Zoe’s face fell. “Yes,” she whispered. “He is.”

“So that’s why you’ve driven clear across the country for three days?”

“Exactly. I didn’t know I was coming here to Parkhurst at the time, Johnny, honest I didn’t. My first plan was to get away from the house. I did that by jumping in my Jeep and driving off. He’d bought the Jeep for me only a few weeks ago after he came back from Vegas. He said he’d won the money at one of the casinos over there and had decided to buy me the Jeep because I’d been good. But I think he got the money by doing a few extra jobs while he was there. I was speechless when I first saw it. He blindfolded me and led me out to the driveway. It was brand new! I’m sure of it! I couldn’t believe it. My very own brand new Jeep! It even had personalised licence plates.

“Anyway, I jumped in the Jeep and just drove as fast as I could. I kept my suitcase so I could change clothes whenever I needed to, and I kept the gun by my side at all times for protection. Then I just drove and drove until I found myself here.”

John nodded his head. It was all starting to come together now. He looked at his watch: 1:43am.

Everything was becoming clearer.

“Helen’s not coming home, is she?” he asked.

Zoe shook her head.

“And she’s not down the street buying food.”

“Nope.”

John continued to nod. “It all makes sense now.”

Zoe leaned over and rubbed his back. “I’m sorry, Johnny, truly I am. I didn’t want to get you involved in this mess, and certainly not Helen. But what else can I do? She was the only person I could think of who could help.”

“I understand. I just wish you had told me to begin with.”

“I’m sorry, Johnny. But I swore Helen to secrecy because the fewer people who know about this the better. I don’t want
anyone
to know if I can help it. Ricky has friends everywhere.”

“But what were you going to tell me when Helen didn’t return?”

“I’m sorry for all that. But you surprised me coming home when you did. Helen said you were going to be late and she gave me the impression you were going to be
really
late. So you arrived before I had a chance to work out what I was going to say.”

“Okay,” John said.

“I didn’t want to lie to you, Johnny. But I thought it was for the best at the time. But it wasn’t all lies. She did tell me to make myself comfortable and she did take my Jeep so she could take it for a spin.”