Love Lies Dying (60 page)

He eyed the revolver.

Grab it!

No, take it calm and easy. I’m winning here now. I’m winning!

“Now, I know we’ve all got problems and I know you’ve had a shitty life so far, but I meant everything I said about helping you get away from all that. I want to help you make a better life for yourself and get on your own feet and have the life you deserve to have.”

She smiled. Tears escaped from the corners of her eyes, running down her face.

“Thank you,” she whispered.

“We’ve all got problems we have to fix. And, at the moment, we both have the same problem. That’s
why
I’m here.
That’s
why we trekked this far through all the rain and all the mud and shit. We came this far so I could finish something for both of us.”

She opened her eyes, turned and stared into his.

“I’m here to
kill
Fox, Zoe,” he whispered to her. “And I don’t care what it takes. We’ll do it. And we’ll do it together. We both deserve at least that. But I want you there with me when I do it. I want you to see him die in front of you. I want you to have your revenge for all those things he did to you!”

Zoe’s expression changed. Her forehead creased. The scar in her left eyebrow shortened.

“But don’t you get it yet, Johnny?” she said.

The rain increased.

“Ricky Fox doesn’t exist!”

Sixty-six

The earth spun around him. The sound of rain and wind and thunder was loud in his ears.

He stared straight at her, but he was looking through her.

“That’s what I wanted to tell you,” she said to him. “Ricky Fox doesn’t exist.”

John’s stomach turned over. He felt sick and weak and had to hold onto the side of the workbench. He felt as if he were going to topple.

Thunder shook the barn.

What?

What is she telling me?

No Ricky Fox.

No Fox.

“But….you said…” was all he could manage.

Zoe looked at him with sadness in her eyes. “I’m
sooo
sorry, Johnny.” She reached out and touched his hair. “I made him up. He doesn’t exist. It was just a story to get you to believe in me.”

John felt hot and sweaty, like he was boiling up with fever. His chest was heavy; he couldn’t breathe properly. He was being suffocated and there was nothing he could do about it.

The rain eased to a patter on the barn roof.

No! But…?

She’s lying. She has to be!

She’s lying now!

She doesn’t want my help.

She’s lying to get me to go away.

She MUST be!

He stared to the floor. Stray pieces of hay were caught in cobwebs under the workbench.

“But
Helen
…and all the blood…”

“That was
me
, Johnny. All me. I did all that.”

John’s mind drifted. He couldn’t take it all in.

This isn’t happening.

It can’t be!

Why is she doing this to me?

She’s LYING!

Why is she lying to me now?

“At first I just wanted what was mine,” she was talking in a low quiet voice. John had to concentrate hard to listen to her. He had to keep his thoughts from running wild.

“I just wanted to take back what was mine. I just wanted to be
loved
. Is that too much to ask? I was going to tell Helen all about your little arrangement with Sherrie. That was
all
I was going to do, Johnny. I promise you. But it got out of control.
Waaay
out of control. ”

John nodded, “It sure did.”

Zoe turned from him and stared across the barn.

Lightning flashed outside.

Everything was silent.

No rain and no wind.

They sat for a long time.

“Fox
doesn’t
exist…” he whispered.

“No,” she replied. “It was all just a story to get you out here.”

“But your history, your whole life…”

“Fabricated,” she said in a small voice. “All lies, Johnny.”

Thunder rolled in the distance.

“Just like yours,” she continued.

He looked at her, but didn’t say anything.

The silence in the barn was almost unnatural.

“I had to lie to make you believe in me,” she continued after a while. “I had to get you out here. I needed you to trust me and to follow me out here. I was going to make sure you paid for what you’d done in the past. I wanted to ruin you. I wanted to make you pay
sooo
bad. That was the idea. I made it all up to get you out here. But then it went all wrong.”

“Helen’s dead?” he closed his eyes, waiting for the answer in the silence.

“Yes, Johnny,” Zoe replied. “I didn’t lie to you about that.”

John hung his head, the earth feeling like it was slipping away from him.

“And…
you
killed her?”

“Yes,” she replied. “Out there in the farmhouse. There’s a bedroom in the back and –”

“I know, I know,” he interrupted her. “I saw it.”

“Oh,” she sounded sad.

The wind gusted once more, howling in the night.

“It wasn’t meant to happen that way,” she continued.

John’s mind was gearing up again, working through the events of the weekend as he remembered them, trying to piece it all together, step by step.

“And the calls from Fox? His men following you?”

“All lies,” she muttered.

“You driving across the country to escape him? The fight you had with him?”

“Lies,” she nodded. “It’s
all
fake, Johnny. The whole thing.”

The rain began to fall again.

John looked deeply into the candle flame across the barn.

Oh, Helen. Why? Why!

“Oh God,” he shook his head.

“I thought it would be over so quickly,” she continued. “I just had to tell Helen what you were doing. That would solve it all. But it got bigger, Johnny. Out of control. The whole thing just spun out of control and the longer it went on the more lies I told and the deeper I got. I wanted to tell you. I wanted to let you know! Believe me, I did!”

John ran a hand through his wet hair. Lightning flashed through the window.

“Helen wouldn’t believe me,” she continued. “Amazing, huh? I tried to tell her. But she wouldn’t listen. She wouldn’t believe any of my story. And, boy, she put up a fight. She fought for you, Johnny. Be proud of that fact. She fought for you
sooo
hard. And then I guess I just went a little too far.”

John turned to her as thunder echoed through the valley.

The rain fell harder.

This can’t be happening. My God, I have to get out of here.

I have to get Sherrie and we have to go! Leave now!

Shit! Sherrie! I have to get to her.

How long has it been?

I have to get to her before Zoe does.

She’ll be going crazy.

Like the rest of us…

“I didn’t want it to end up like this, Johnny. I really didn’t.” She turned to look at him. “It just got out of hand. The scenes got bigger and bolder. I couldn’t stop myself. I set out to destroy you, but I couldn’t. I wanted what was mine. But it was
sooo
good to be with you.”

She paused before continuing.

“And I think I fell in love with you.”

He stared back at her. Their eyes locked. He didn’t know what to say.

“I just wanted you to love me too.”

He sighed, spoke slowly. “But Zoe, I…”

She nodded, “I know, I know…”

Silence fell between them.

“I love Sherrie,” he whispered. “I’m sorry Zoe, but I love Sherrie.”

She nodded.

“I know,” she raised the revolver. “And so do I.”

His eyes darted to the gun pointing at his head.

“Game’s over!” she said as she pulled the trigger.

Sixty-seven

He dived at her, tackling her and flinging her back against the workbench.

The gun fired close to his right ear as they fell backwards, the bullet shooting into the roof of the barn. His ear stung from the noise, a loud ringing taking over from the rain and thunder.

John reached out and struggled to pull the revolver from Zoe’s grip. He could hear the hammer falling over and over as she pulled the trigger.

The gun was empty.

No use to me now.

He slammed her hand against the workbench and the gun jarred free, slipping across the bench and falling to the floor with a clatter.

He spread himself across her, trying to pin her to the bench. She struggled underneath him, clawing at his back and hair.

He reached up above the workbench for the tools, trying to grab a hammer that hung there. She grabbed at his left arm. He reached higher and then he felt her teeth bite into his wound.

The pain sliced up his arm and into his mind. He buckled forward, crashing down on to her. He heard the back of her skull hit the workbench hard. She froze for a moment, as if stunned, and then continued fighting him.

“She’s mine,” she yelled at him. “You leave her alone! She’s
mine!
”

He reached out across the workbench with his left hand.

He noticed the quickly spreading bloodstain on his torn shirt. She’d opened his wound with her bite.

Bitch!

Fucking bitch!

He grabbed what he could find as firmly as possible. Metal or steel, cold and heavy.

He raised it above her.

“No!” she gasped. “Don’t! Please?”

He stopped and looked at her; stared into her eyes.

Is that fear?

Or another lie?

“Please don’t, Johnny,” she pleaded and tried to smile. “You know I really
do
love you.”

The gash on her left cheek looked deep.

Probably got it when she drove into Sherrie’s car.

Serves her right.

I want to make it deeper…

The bruise on her forehead was darkening too.

“We can work something out,” she continued. “We have to, for all of us.”

John continued studying her.

What’s the truth and what’s a lie?

I don’t know anymore.

It’s all so confusing…

“Please, Johnny.” Pain crossed her face as she talked. “You’re
hurting
me.”

He climbed off her, pushed her away in disgust, but still held his weapon high, ready to strike.

“I
do
love you, Johnny,” she smiled as she sat up slightly on her elbows. “And I
know
how much you love Sherrie. Well, I do too. Maybe this is the best for
all
of us. Maybe we can
all
live together. We’d make a great threesome.”

John sighed deeply and shook his head. He took a step away from her, lowering the weapon as he did so.

“You’re not well, Zoe,” he said to her as thunder rolled over them. “You need help. You’re
sick
…”

“All the help I need is here,” she replied. “You and Sherrie. Let’s go get her and we can all go home together. Think of it, John. The two women you love, in bed with you every night, naked and hot and wet and horny.”

She leaned forward, a new gleam in her eye, a smile breaking onto her face.

“It’d be just
sooo
wonderful. We’ll do anything you want.
I’ll
do anything you want. Fuck me like a dog, cum in my mouth until I gag, cum in my arse until I leak, fuck me until I bleed…anything. As long as we’re together, all of us. It’ll be great!”

John stepped back further.

“You just don’t understand,” he said.

Zoe spread her legs wide apart.

“You
want
this,” she said. Showing him her wet pussy. “And you can have it all whenever you like. Remember how good we were together? Remember how it felt with my mouth around your cock? You haven’t experienced
anything
yet, Johnny. You haven’t been
inside
me. Inside my cunt. Imagine how good it would be to stick your hot cock inside me. I want you deep inside. You want to be there too, I
know
it.”

Pain pumped through his cock as he felt himself harden.

“This isn’t right,” he said.

“But it’s
good
,” she replied.

“You
killed
Helen,” he said. “And you
tortured
me! I can’t
possibly
be with you.”

Zoe rolled her eyes, closed her legs and pushed herself forward to sit on the corner of the workbench. She crossed her arms in front of her breasts.

“Don’t get all high-and-mighty with me, Johnny,” she said. “Need I remind you that
you’re
the one fucking your personal assistant behind your wife’s back!
You’re
the one not sleeping in the same bed as your wife.
You’re
the one who’s wanted to fuck me every way you possibly could this weekend. If anything, I did you a
favour
killing Helen! You don’t have to lie anymore!”

John tightened his grip on the metal in his hand.

“She called for you, you know,” Zoe continued. “I told her the truth, but she wouldn’t believe me. And just before she died, just before she let out her final breath, she called your name.”

John shook his head, he felt dizzy and sick. Guilt swept over him. The room began to spin.

No! I can’t hear this. NO!

He looked to the floor of the barn, he watched the tears well up in his eyes.

“Oh God,” he muttered. “Helen…”

“She
really
loved you,” Zoe continued in a soft voice. “But you didn’t love her.”

Nooo, oh no! Oh, fuck, what have I done?

This is all my fucking fault.

All because of me.

“If it helps any,” Zoe continued. “I did it quick. She didn’t feel much pain. I’m sure of it.”

John lifted his head and stared at her. Tears ran down his cheeks, but he didn’t care if she saw them – not now.

“How did you do it,
bitch?
” he asked in a strained voice. “How did you kill my wife?”

She pointed at his hand.

“With that.”

Lightning struck and thunder roared across the barn.

He looked down at his hand.

And at the fireplace poker.

Its double-pronged tip was covered in dried blood. Some strands of hair were stuck to its side.

“I got her right on the temple, first time,” Zoe continued. “It was quick. I assure you.”

He dropped the poker. He watched as it fell away from him, almost in slow motion. It clattered to the floor and echoed around the barn.

The rain fell with it.

Zoe took a step towards him.

“I may have done it for me to begin with,” she said as she took another step. “But in the end, I did it for
us
. All those years planning, for us. I just can’t believe it’s almost over. I did it for
all
of us. You and me and Sherrie.”

He shook his head.

“We can all be together now. All three of us. We’ll all be happy.”

“No,” John said through clenched teeth. “I won’t let you get away with this.”

“It’s too late, Johnny,” she said. “I already have.”

“You can’t go unpunished…”

“You already
know
I like to be punished. And so do you,” she moved closer.

“Where is she?” John asked in a slow calm voice.

Keep a lid on it, pal. Don’t lose it.

“You said she was at the farmhouse,” she replied with a crooked smile.

“Not
Sherrie!
Where’s
Helen?
”

“Well, she’s not here,” Zoe replied, shrugging her shoulders.

“I know that.
What
the
fuck
have you
done
with her?”

“She’s around,” she replied stepping closer to him, tilting her head and still smiling at him.

Lightning lit up the barn.

“Tell me, Zoe.”

“She’s out of harm’s way for now. No one will find her. Not yet anyway.”

John tensed, “What do you mean?”

“It’s simple,” she sighed. “She’s my security, Johnny. I have to make sure both you and Sherrie will agree to my terms.”

“
Terms?
” John’s lip curled as he spat out the word. “What makes you think we’ll agree to any terms you give us?”

“That’s easy,” she continued, only a couple of feet from him now. “We
will
all live together, as a threesome. And we
will
all love each other.”

“We won’t agree to that.”

“Yes, you will,” she said as she bent down and picked up the fireplace poker. “You have to.”

“We won’t.”

Zoe shook her head, “Johnny, I thought you would’ve understood by now.”

“Look, Zoe,” he interrupted. “Your sick little fucked up game is over. You’ve lost. I’m walking out of here, taking Sherrie with me and I’m going to find Helen’s body and then we’ll go straight to the police.”

“I wouldn’t dooo thaaat,” she replied in a little girl’s voice as she stood back up with the poker in hand.

“I’m
going
to do it, and I’m going to do it
now!
You don’t control me, Zoe, not anymore.”

He marched past her, heading for the door.

“Yes I do!” she called after him.

He kept walking.

You need some of the tools for Sherrie!

I can’t risk it. I can’t stop now. I’ll find another way to get her out.

How?

I’ll get her out somehow. I just can’t stay here! Not now!

“She’s at the church,” Zoe said from behind him.

John stopped in his tracks and turned to face her.

She was licking the tip of the poker, licking off the dried blood and hair that was stuck there.

Helen’s blood and hair!

“She’s at the
church?
” John repeated.

“Well, sort of,” Zoe continued as she licked. “Nearby anyway.”

John turned to leave, “You’re one sick
fuck
, you know that?”

“Aren’t we all?”

He placed his hand on the barn door.

“Don’t go to the police, Johnny!” she called after him.

He rested his forehead on the cold wooden door and closed his eyes. He just wanted everything to go away.

“And give me one good reason not to,” he replied.

“Game one is over,” she called back in a sing-song voice. “But game two is only just beginning!”

“Huh?” he turned to face her.

“Life’s full of choices, Johnny,” she smiled at him and rested the poker across her left shoulder. “And so is this game. You can play it my way, or yours. But believe me, my way is much easier. Want to hear the rules?”

He nodded slowly, a heavy feeling of uneasiness settled on him as the thunder shuddered around the barn.

Things were about to get a whole lot worse.

He knew it.

“My way is easy,” she continued. “You and me and Sherrie go home together and fuck until we’re exhausted for the rest of our lives. Easy.”

“Go on…” he said.

“To help you decide that my way is the best, I’ve got some security up my sleeve.”

She fingered the half-heart gold pendant still hanging around her neck.

“Helen’s somewhere near the church, that’s true. But there’s nothing to link her to me.”